D6 Star Wars Space Heist recap: PART 2

Well, best laid plans are sometimes blasted to tiny particles by turbolasers. In the previous play report, I talked about how a big action scene was skipped (though plenty of other action still took place). This time around, things got down right methodical.

We had two new players join the group, while one from the previous session was unable to attend. That character (Hera) was on a "side mission" for Daelu. Her astromech, was conveniently left behind to assist in the mission.The new PCs included:

• Thall Joben from the DROIDS tv series! He's a speeder racer, which woulda' been PERFECT for the previous game. But whaddya gonna do?
• A Mon Calmari first mate. I can't recall his name while I write this, but he's sort of a technical dude (starship repair and gunner) who's well versed in bureaucracy. So pretty much like a GM certified mechanic, I'd imagine.

The new players added a great dimension to the game in the way of strategy--especially when it came to determining how to approach the base. This is the "figuring out how they're going to pull the job" part of the adventure.

Da-Dah-Da-DAAAAA!

PLAYER PRO-TIP: If you spend a session on investigation and strategy when the big action scene was supposed to go down and you don't play for another month, you've just given the GM more time to think up more nastiness to revisit upon you on your next session. Game wisely!

Of course, this is all in jest. I did ramp up their timeline--instead of a week in game-time, they get 72 hours to get their gear and get on with the mission. A quick side trip to see if they can find out find out the source of the cargo vessels.

Anyway, blah, blah....

COMMENCE INFODUMP:

• The PCs were given the layout of the base, per some of Daelu's Bothan spy brothers. Since the last session, he's begun getting more of his pals on board with the rebels. The Bothans are building their spy network.
• The plans confirmed that the base is heavily protected, though some of the Empire's signature vehicles like the walkers aren't present due to terrain and giant vines. Instead there are several squads of jungle scout troopers and speeders. 
• The facility is essentially a super secure IT building for the Empire, housing the plans and beaming a constant stream of updates through a secure channel of linked probe droids. The data is easier to manage and now protected by killer robots. If one should self-destruct or be taken out, it drops off network and the Imperials are immediately alerted.
• So the PCs, fearing detection decide to test the cloaking device and do a scan of the gas giant's system and check out the moon the base is on. 
  
• Melaku (the gas giant) has a weirding field of electromagnetic flux. Several large iron core asteroids have been towed into place by the Empire and fitted with sensors. Their high metallicity ends up reflecting the gas giant's field back into itself. It's one giant E/M blanket. Any ship that flies inside the orbit of these satellites--and doesn't have a cloaking device--is immediately detected by Imperial sensor scans. The entire field magnifies sensors! 
• The jungle moon, where the base is located has a single centurion probe droid that acts as majordomo for all space transport to and from the planet. It actually travels back and forth between the base to relay data. Any transmission from the droid would be likewise picked up by those big reflectors on the other moons and the Imperial armada would be there to take care of any unwanted guests. 
• They do a flyby of the moon to get a close look at the base, which looks to be exactly as the plans they've recovered.
• So how does the base relay it's real-time holonet code of the DS plans to Imperial contractors? A hyperspace transmitter! Works on the same principles as a hyperdrive, but it's beaming info directly to a network of probe droids hidden in hyperspace that then relay encrypted data almost instantly. It's the transmitter's control computer--a sentient A.I.--that needs to be hacked to get the code. 

  

  Bothan brandy makes Lobot's circuits all tingly

• The computer core is split into 3 "personas" and it takes 2 to get a complete code. Communicating with the cores requires a protocol droid with unique modifications. Only 3 known individuals are said to know how to make the upgrades. One is one is dead. One is on Coruscant. The other is on.....BESPIN!
• Thinking (correctly) that there wouldn't nearly the Imperial presence on Bespin as Coruscant, our heroes depart for Cloud City.
• Dalelu says it might be a good idea to bring along a little "incentive" so Chin Duo loads a crate of his best Bothan brandy in case they need to grease the wheels in negotiations. 
• When they're introduced to the city's administrator, LANDO CALRISSIAN, the gift make for smooth introduction and he agrees to lend out the services of his assistant, the top A.I. expert in the quadrant: LOBOT! The cyborg makes the necessary mods to "Spare" so he can talk to the cores.
• Calrissian says he wants in on whatever the PCs find. He needs leverage with the Imperials should they decide to interfere with his Tibanna gas mining operation. He lets them know that the Imperials have indeed built this "superweapon" they keep hearing about and intend on testing it...in the next 48 hours!
• NEXT TIME: The team is off to Melaku to begin their mission, now with a working cloaking device and a suped-up protocol droid. 
• Hopefully, the intelligence they've gathered is correct....

SPAR-3 gets an upgrade

Lessons learned:
So I failed to deliver on the "Big Damn Heroes" aspect I'd managed in the previous game. The "exciting conclusion!" is postponed for one more session. But I assure you, the PCs are now painted into a very tight corner, so it's do or do not (there is no try!) for Part 3.

And if they live through that session, I have an even more exciting "bonus" adventure, so it could stretch to a forth session. We'll have to see because we're now running into scheduling issues with the next few SNSO events.

We've got a "make-up" game for this coming up, with the exact date and time to be decided. But I'm looking forward to throwing the players into the deep end with a combat-heavy session!

UPDATE: Part three has yet to be scheduled. Stay tuned for the thrilling (for real this time) conclusion!

D6 Star Wars Space Heist recap: PART 1

I'm SO behind on posts these days, but hopefully this will get folks up to speed on my "steal the Death Star plans" mini campaign (designed to be a two-parter) that I'm running for Saturday Night Space Opera.

Before you go any further, check out the opening crawl, which sets the scene and time in the Star Wars universe.

So in our first session, which took place in March, we had three beginning PCs (all played by veteran roleplayers though admittedly, none of us have played WEG Star Wars in a loooooong time).

• Chin Duo - Human smuggler, captain of The Betsy (modded YT-2000ish series freighter)
• Hera - Twillek pirate and her astromech companion R2-B3
• Zexy - Human cyborg pirate with protocol droid SPA-R3 (a.k.a. "Spare")

"The reward will be...more well than you can imagine."
They're individually recruited by a podracing team franchise owner named Daleu H'rndhar, a Bothan businessman turned spy. His team is competing in a race on Malastare (yes, Qui Gon, the races there are indeed very dangerous). The PCs are being hired to become part of his team to pull of the biggest heist in the galaxy--stealing the plans to the Death Star! He's offering competent takers a spacecruiser full of credits to join his crew.


After bribing, charming, or conning their way into the VIP lounge to meet their future boss, they get a few details about their mission and then get their first test--chasing down a would-be assassin attempting to take out Daleu. See, there are a LOT of people trying to get these plans--including a rival Hutt cartel, run by Neku the Hutt. She's as ruthless as they come and keen on taking out the competition.

A much better racing movie, BTW.

After some EXTREMELY lucky rolls, they catch up to her (something that was supposed to happen AFTER a really exciting chase which spilled into the giant, orbital corkscrew raceway filled with in-track booby traps and involved the characters taking over pods in mid-race to apprehend her ...BUT WHATEVER.).

Instead, they catch her almost immediately. :-( She offers up only clues to a deeper conspiracy (a strange tattoo, and a warning that "more are coming". The assassin bites down on a cyanide pill and dies, like a true professional.

The PCs have attracted a lot of attention and more of Neku's gang are on their way, plus racestation police. The PCs, uh, "hide" her corpse, in hopes of avoiding blame...in a space ficus plant. (What do you want? They caught her in a large, well-lit hallway!)

"We're in a bit of a rush, so if you'll be so kind to step aboard, it would be appreciated."

The Betsy

They make it to Chin's ship, The Betsy - only to find more of Neku's thugs. Playing coy in a confrontation of scumbag posturing, the PCs take Neku's band by surprise--out scoundreling them to get close enough to set their blasters under the chins of the thugs.

Neku's crew is forced to disarm, give up their credits, their IDs and the keys to their ship in another hangar. Again, time is of the essence, so they board quickly and make their way out of system, leaving the Neku gang tied up with their own clothes.

The PCs hyperspace the hell out of there on their way to Daelu's private offices on an asteroid, picking up more mission details from him on the trip. When they arrive they begin making a list of the gear they'll need for surveillance on the secret base--a moon orbiting the gas giant Melaku. The base is heavily fortified and remotely placed in the middle of a giant megaflora forest of supervines and enormous bramble patches.

Daelu's technicians work for hours to install a state-of-the-art (that means untested) cloaking device on The Betsy. Along with some speeder bikes in case they run into Imperial entanglements on vineworld.

Daelu's homebase

Before too long, another assassin happens along--the Bothan base has been compromised! This time the assassin gives up more details, but not before being "spaced" in a pressure suit with one hour of air. Pirates and smugglers know how to interrogate! The Bothans, being Daelu's gambling and race pals, of course take bets on how long the unlucky chump will last.


"I have a bad feeling about this."
Enough information is gained that they now know there's not much time to lose--they'll need to get to the moon and do some quick recon before the rival gang gets the prize. And worse, all these antics have attracted a big name bounty hunter, Bossk smells blood in the water and he's on his way!

Not a nice lizardman

But is he working for the Imperials? Neku? Alone?

NEXT: Part 2 - New team members!

A few things I am (trying) to accomplish in every game:

• Fast character generation, using templates (sorta successful, but helped that the players were knowledgeable). 
• Big damn heroes, doing leaping-before-looking action, preferably with blasters.
• Some scoundreling skills (bribing, conning, etc) to stay true to the Ocean's Eleven style of the premise.
• Name-dropping if not cameos from movie Characters to give the story a sense of connection and "bigness" while still including...
• Stuff you've never seen in the movies...like giant corkscrew raceways that are filled with all sorts of cool cinematic speeder action (sigh...).

Saturday Night Space Opera Part 2: Rad Astra Play Report!

If you've had a chance to digest my previous post on Saturday Night Space Opera's inaugural event, then you're now ready for this (as short and sweet as I can recall) summary of the actual RAD ASTRA game play:

• Four players chose three standard X-plorers classes: Technician (the team's pilot), Scientist, and Scout. One chose my custom class of Astrosassin (heck yeah!). 
• Plot involved them being hired on a centuries-old (and it shows) space station called Sanctuary Six in a backwater part of the galaxy referred to as "The Shallows". They were hired by one Captain Harford Fenn, an old smuggler specializing in do-or-die cargo runs, pushing retirement. The team met for the first time in a rundown saloon. 

(Fig. 1) Space station: Sanctuary Six

• Their mission was to take aid supplies through pirate-infested territory to a colony on the planet Cerellis VI.
• Colony communiques have been confusing for weeks, with garbled messages from the administrator giving panicked updates on how their original 100 settlers had dwindled to less than 15. No further details were given.

(Fig. 2) Cargo ship: The Radium Tear 

(Fig. 3) Captain Harford Fenn

• Fenn's ship, The Radium Tear, is a mid-sized freighter that's fast in hyperspace and well armored, but slow at sublight speeds. As such, he travels with an entourage of small, pointy single-pilot fighters called the Minutemen. 
• The Tear's crew are the four "mission specialist" PCs, plus two other regular members they've not yet met.
• Because the planet they're traveling to is located in unclaimed (and therefore fair-game for pirates) territory the freighter will drop them into orbit via a trim little shuttle craft with a three 1x1x1 meter cargo pods filled with humanitarian aid supplies.
• They boarded a station tram to make way to the ship dock and ended up catching a shifty character looking their way. Though the Astrosassin was brave enough to try and confront him, said miscreant gave them the slip.

(Fig. 4) He just doesn't look very trustworthy....

• At spacedock, Captain Fenn filled them in on the ship's compliment and other mission details. They boarded and the "aid supplies" were loaded aboard.
• Once the ship was in hyperspace the PCs took to grabbing a meal in the galley, but overheard yelling in the corridor.
• The astrosassin spied the captain being threatened by the ne'er do well from the tram! He was one of the Tear's crew members.
• The other PCs arrive just in time to scare off the dude, who bolts for the shuttle bay. A confrontation in the bay escalates into shots fired and tranquilizer needles readied (Scientist Till had no firearm on him at the time).
• The team brought down the renegade crew member (injuring him, but not killing him) just as Fenn huffs and puffs his way into the shuttle bay. During the fracas, the assailant was injured--or damaged, really, as he turns out to be an android!
• During their interrogation, the android refuses direct answers---only spewing hateful barbs at the crew, as well as some sort of greenish-black liquid. He says he's working for a space pirate named Argal, Basically, they're walking into a trap. The team agrees to take up battlestations aboard the Radium Tear to fight off any incursions.
• The captain informs them that they've actually only got minutes before they're out of hyperspace---giving them little time to prepare for an ambush. The captain tells them to make their delivery and he'll hold off any space hostiles as long as he can. To prove he's serious, he transmits their payment transfers---in full---back to Sanctuary Six. All they have to do is make it back to the station in one piece to get paid.
• At this point, several of the players have a protracted debate about what to do:
• Three players want to board the shuttle and make a dash for the planet and complete the mission
• One player wants to man a gunnery station on The Radium Tear---hoping to defeat the pirates and make off with the cargo (which he hopes to open, sell, and/or make it back to the station to collect payment regardless of making the delivery. SO MANY MORAL DILEMMAS, that guy.
• The other PCs convince him to shut up and get on the shuttle. They scoot the dingy out of the bay an into a full-on starfighter dogfight!

(Fig. 5) Quick and durable Minutemen fighters escort the Radium Tear

(Fig. 6) But faster, more numerous pirate starfighters overwhelm their enemies!

• Minutemen fighters are doing their best to hold off the pirate ships which outnumber them 4:1. The pirate craft are numerous and very fast, but light on firepower (they rely on swarming their enemies). 
• Another debate ensues over whether to gun the engines or try and fool the Argal into thinking his android is still steering the ship. The latter strategy is employed and fails. So it's a race to make cloud cover on the planet below. 
• The Minutemen buy time as the shuttle escapes the fracas. The Radium Tear explodes, taking with it their employer.
• A massive pirate spaceship emerges, it's Argal chasing down his prize.
• The Minutemen break off and make for the planet as well (in pairs, but in differing trajectories and not along the same path as the shuttle).
• Our game time had run out, but not before the crew had a chance to break atmo and see just how horrific the planet is gonna be next time:

(Fig. 7) Planet of thistle, bramble, and thorn!

TO BE CONTINUED:

• Final twist of the knife: as a parting gift, the PCs learned their shuttle was very badly damaged (only 1 hull point left!) and so they'd need to find alternate means off the hellscape planet! 
• The crew is on the lookout for Jem Quimble, security chief for the settlement on Cerellis. She's the only one who can open the cargo and ensure they get paid. But they have to FIND her first! 

(Fig. 8) Security Chief: Jem Quimble

Other stuff:

• Hilariously, the Source made an announcement over their P.A. system about me GMing the game! The flood of people rushing the table nearly put me in the hospital. Actually, I almost died of embarrassment, but John and I had a good laugh.
• Anyone wishing to run their own space opera game at the Source for SNSO should let me know and I'll custom make you a sign for your table. We're working to turn this into a regular Saturday event with multiple games going.
• The next game is set for February 7 at 6:00 p.m., RSVP if you want to join in or GM your own space opera campaign.
• My play report for next month won't be so lengthy, but I wanted to capture the fun of that first night (thank you for reading, if you've made it this far!). I'm sure John will chime in if I've missed anything good. ;-)



Image credits:

Fig. 1 Space station by John Harris

Fig. 2 Nostromo concept art by Gavin Rothery 

Fig. 3 Sergeant by Penko Gelev

Fig. 4 Cropped from UFO movie poster

Fig. 5 Arrowhead LEGO spaceship by Damien Labrousse

Fig. 6 IRD-A fighter from Star Wars: Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook

Fig. 7 Still Frame from Fantastic Planet

Fig. 8 Space Girl by Travis Charest

Saturday Night Space Opera Part 1: A Successful Launch!

Welcome space rangers!

WELL, we did it! This past weekend we hosted our first Saturday Night Space Opera at The Source! We had a total of three RSVPs, plus John Till and myself--plus a few other folks stopped by to ask about the event. They'd heard about it and have even gamed with John in a round of Cosmic Patrol (I think it was). 

There's too much to recount in a single blog post, so I'll cover the actual game in a follow up soon. For now though, just know that we all had a great time. A large part of that is due to having three young (teenage) players who were more than happy to get their feet wet with a system that's low on crunch. By the sounds of it, they'd actually played an early edition of D&D for a while, though it wasn't clear which, it was seemed to be some form of AD&D. So there we were, ready to kick off a new Rad Astra game using the X-plorers ruleset...

A True Wingman!

Having a veteran like John at the table was a huge benefit and great pleasure that I cannot overstate. When I was waist-deep in manuals and my own manically scrawled notes, he was gregarious to the other players, happy to ask them if they needed help, and generously chiming in with well-timed advice. He cheerfully kept the game aloft when decision-making ground to a halt between some of the other players. His avuncular presence was a boon to they and me. At the end of the night he asked the other players if they had fun, and they all responded firmly in the affirmative. All traits of a fantastic game master in his own right and I can't wait to thank him by sometime returning the favor when he's head of the table...or at least be class clown and heckle him!

So here's a few things I learned, or in some cases, relearned:

Character Generation Needs a Reboot

X-plorers is a game that not a ton of people have played. Despite its"rules light" nature, CharGen remains a speed bump. Even when there's Player's Guide books, simplified character sheets reduced to note cards, and a few summaries on classes, all provided at the table it can take a while. Mostly this is due to players enjoying the process of crafting their characters. But it's pretty much on my shoulders to make the process as painless as possible. So in the future I'll be writing up a quick-starter one-sheet with steps clearly outlined--if not a few ready-made templates. 

Still, I think the players had fun--too much maybe. Especially when it came to choosing....

Equipment is Everything

I already knew from previous session with this game and still forgot: hardware in a scifi game IS the theme. Yes, a lot of other things play into the aesthetics of a setting, but the gear PCs carry on them is the road on which the campaign travels. This extends to vehicles, spaceships, etc. of course--but their gear has to be the single strongest indicator of the kind of setting in which their adventuring. 

The game's default equipment list is heavily influenced by hard scifi (ALIEN, Outland, etc.) Rad Astra is not hard scifi. I like hard scifi just fine. But a space opera game needs broader strokes--it needs to dream bigger and bring the fantastic. So a very overdue equipment list will be created...and slowly integrated into the setting. 

Several of the players took their time to carefully consider each piece. Like whether or not they should carry flashlights or flare guns!! For most kickoff adventures, I don't want player to worry about that stuff, so I give them some basics to get started and let them improvise the rest. 

Either way, a selection of more setting appropriate gear is now top priority. 

Props Help Sell the Theme

I was like a kid in a candy store when I was planning this game. So I brought some table-candy: 

• A felt game mat with starfield and nebula
• A map of the six-armed super galaxy that I drew in the days leading up to the game
• A smattering of hastily printed B/W handouts of characters, ships, and locations
• Extra player aids (see Character Generation above)
• A handful of Buck Rogers minis and a swooshy ebony spaceship
• One package of over-sized Galaxy Laser Team figures to hold down the mat and just hang around being cool
• Besides John with his awesome Zochi dice, the other guys brought minimal polyhedrons and shared. Can't get more "light" than that...

Yeah, it's a zany way to game, but I've found that having fun things around to hold and gaze upon are are a perfect fit for a root beer and pretzels game night. And that's what Saturday Night Space Opera gaming is all about!

Theater of the Mind Wins Every Time

Despite having some cool toys on the table, we only used the Buck Rogers minis once to quickly settle confusion around some hand-to-hand combat with multiple participants. The rest of the game was group storytelling and good-old-fashioned dialog. The players intimated at the beginning that this was their preferred style (it's mine as well). Even the visitors who stopped by prior to the game, said they prefer no-minis in their games. 

It's amazing how far you can travel with just paper, pencils, and a few funny dice!

UPDATE: Here's the first play report!

Play Report: "The Horror at Borah"

So this is a few weeks late AND it's long. If you're not into play reports, then skip it. But I wanted to record a few lessons I'd learned during this last play session. It was fairly by-the-numbers as adventures go, but I'm getting the newbies warmed up to playing RPGs as well as practicing my ref skills with saving throws, judgement calls, etc. Okay, as you were--

A few Saturdays ago, the folks from the first play test returned to the table to make it a campaign! So now we're off and running around the galaxy on a regular basis. There's still the possibility of running a game over at the Source (my FLGS) too, but I've yet to organize anything formal for that one.

Back at "The Ranch"
We return to our greenhorn cadets (a scout, scientist, and soldier)  who are back on the spacestation (called The Ranch), where they're based as freelancers for Karlo (the pawn shop owner from the first game). They took the chance to explore the station's grand market and happened upon a place to pick out capes and cowls at Lando's House of Capes--which they thoroughly enjoyed. Two capes and a cowl are ordered.

They had some time to kill while their purchases were tailored and ended up bumping into (or being bumped by) a surly alien on the promenade.

The scout rolled an incredible PRE check and was able to convince him to forget the offense over drinks at PFLURGG'S!, a nearby saloon. Turns out the alien is a freighter captain for Karlo. His name is unpronounceable in the common spacer tongue, so he goes by "Josh". He works the salvage end of their gigs (going in afterwards to tow large hauls). Basically looting. This was a revelation to them--learning that Karlo is using them as muscle in his "Brawn n' Pawn" schemes, which are highly illegal. They don't have much choice though as Karlo's their only paying gig at the moment.

Just another typical hive-of-scum-and-villainy space saloon.

Josh asks them how they came to work for him and they tell him the sad tale of getting expelled from the Star Alliance Academy. Turns out the captain "knows a guy who knows a guy" back at SAA that may prove useful for digging up some info on why they were unceremoniously kicked to the curb, just before graduation.

The most important thing gleaned from this little confab though is that Josh runs salvage and some rescue ops for a lot of freelancers as well. They trade transpoder codes and now have a contact who can work for them exclusively, without Karlo needing to know (for a hefty 15% fee, of course!).

The cadets' sartorial accessories are ready at Lando's. They pick up their stuff and head back to the hangar where Bema the space yeti is finishing the new paint job on their ship, The Mockingbird. Karlo, riding a massive hover chair to carry his slovenly form, meets them in the hanger to give them their mission: they must complete their original mission to the planet Borah, which is the same planet they tried to get to last adventure. That went awry when their ship dropped out of warp at the doorstep of a space wasp hexa-nest.

They're able to leverage the bonuses from their new duds to get Karlo to let them have RIG-B the robot again PLUS Bema as a Technician, for extra help.

Old Foes and Masters
The scientist made a Intelligence check and noticed that the coordinates for this hyperjump were different than the last one. When the ship really did arrive at Borah this time, it was clear their last mission was sabotaged to go to the wasps' nest. When RIG-B is questioned about the discrepancy, he claims his memory has files missing.

It turns out the wasps are here too--at least in orbit--with three, spaceship-sized wasps about to attack. They're able to remain cool under pressure and evade combat, but the wasps pursue them into the atmosphere. Borah's thick atmo ends up being a deterrent, and they lose the bugs in the cloud cover.

Our heroes land on a high bluff, overlooking a wide jungle expanse. Buried beneath the canopy on the opposite rim of what appears to be a huge sinkhole, are ruins. First order of business: scale down the cliffs into the jungle.

Like this. But WIDER.

It won't be easy since RIG-B has to be carried over rough terrain. The soldier offers to carry him (most of him--Bema removes some of his legs for the others to carry).

This won't be easy as the cliff walls are a sheer 200 feet down. But the enormous trees filling the sinkhole jungle are within reach. The Mockingbird has a rear-firing grapnel with winch (100 meters long). They fire it into the top of a tree and clip on some carabiners as a makeshift zipline.

RIG-B ends up being dropped on his head before they can get him secured to the soldier (that's what rolling a 1 will get you). A plate pops off and etched on the inside is the following: "PROPERTY OF COL. ZIGG ZAYNE".



Colonel Zayne, best space ace in the galaxy has been missing over a year.

A quick check from their Star Alliance History 101 courses and the kids recall that Zayne is a war hero who disappeared about a year ago. Bema, hangs his head upon hearing the name and finally lets out a forlorn howl heard throughout the jungle--his antennae flicker in futility. RIG-B suddenly remembers that he and Zayne were working for Karlo--and came to this very planet--before disappearing (but the rest was, of course, erased). The cadets discuss the possibility of coming across Zayne, should they pick up his trail.

The soldier finally gets RIG-B secure and zips across easily. The other two space-pukes, not so much. The scientist gets stuck half way and dangles high above the jungle. His flailing causes the line to snap at the opposite side and drop him into a full-speed swing towards the cliffside! He survives (a few HP shy) but they have to start over and the entire escapade becomes a lesson in problem-solving skills.

Eventually they all make it down, but now they're at the mercy of the jungle beasts!

Run Through the Jungle
Light's fading, and they need to get through the jungle fast. They run into a 7-meter-long serpent covered in caustic sludge. This turns out to be the "easy" monster, having blasted it from a distance wide enough to avoid back-splash.

A mile or so later they're attacked by a hunting party of Borahthals (neaderthal's with radium-dipped spears). They fight most of them off but--and to my own amazement--they not only get the remaing dude to speak with them, but (they believe they) convince him to be their guide by giving him a lighter (which he promptly tosses into a satchel filled with lighters from previous "tourists"). They name him "Doug".

He might look like a savage, but Doug's no dummy. The cadets, however, are very trusting. He tells them that they can take a shortcut through the jungle to a "side entrance" (a cave tunnel a little over a mile away). He leads them as far as a clearing with a large patch of sand (in the middle of a jungle?) surrounded by thick trees....and promptly bugs out.

The next sound they hear is the loud, low growl. Trees are mashed. A terrifying roar breaks the din of the jungle. And they come face-to-face with this:


Art by nebezial

...but red, actually. 'Cuz that's meaner. They get beat up. A lot. Have a look at that tail for a moment. It levels a row of trees outlining the pit that, in turn, knock the scout into the sand--which we all know is quicksand, right? On the opposite "shore" of the pit, are the soldier and scientists, staring in disbelief at what can only be called "Xeno Rex".

The soldier, impaired by the weight of carrying RIG-B can't do much besides blast at the beast with his laser rifle. The scout, tosses a graple line to her friends in hopes she can be pulled to safety before being chomped by the X-Rex (he's got a long reach--enough to get to the middle of the sand trap). The scientist devises a plan to toss grenades at Rex's feet, causing the soft ground on the opposite side to cave in and trap the beast.

The plan more or less works. The scout is injured, but not too bad. It's a miracle toss (read: roll) that the creature's acid blood isn't spilled before it sinks into the sand. It's carrying enough inside it to melt a well-armored tank.

The newbs drag themselves another mile to camp and bandage. And find themselves in front of a rocky outcropping--and a cave mouth. It's dark inside, but the faint. violet glow of biolumiescent mold outlines the walls.

Above the entrance, is carved stone, gilded in gold. It reads:

"TEMPLE OF ZATHAR!"

Xeno Rex
This fearsome predator tops the food chain on whatever planet it inhabits. When encountered, the "X-Rex" will first attempt to tenderize its meal using it's tail, which acts as both spear and mace. Most small arms cannot penetrate its hard exterior shell--and a nasty suprise awaits any of those stupid enough to try at close range. Good luck suckers!

(Modified from the Raptus Rex in the X-plorers manual)
AC 18
HD 8d6
THB +8
ATT 3d6 (tail) / 3d6 (acid blood, if punctured) +1d6+1 ongoing for 3 more rounds
ST 11+
MV (7)
Special abilities:
Roar (must make save vs. fear) and Swallow (can eat prey whole--don't worry about damage from teeth, it'll be too late to do the math!).
XP 1,800


~~~~
So, lessons?
1. Too much time on the spacestation, which was my fault. I need to keep them focused on the mission. Though they appreciate the new swag--and the new contact--they wanted to get right to it. My bad!

2. All three players commented on how much they enjoyed the exploring and problem-solving aspects of the game MORE than combat. Go figure, this old-school style WORKS!

3. You can prepare for an adventure and you can over-prepare. I was just-barely prepared (as far as beasts go) and that seemed like enough to get by. I would have like some more original monsters, but sometimes you just want something big/mean/nasty. So let's not reinvent the wheel. Still, I think I'll over-prepare next time, just to be safe.

4. Everybody loves new capes!

Con of the North: LEVEL 1

This past Saturday I enjoyed my first venture to Con of the North, the big gaming convention here in the Twin Cities. I've been to many a comic convention and Convergence (the geek culture con) but this was my initial foray into the gaming crowd's natural territory.



Saint Dave of Blackmoor

If you weren't aware, Minnesota--and particularly the Saint Paul/Minneapolis metro area--has a thriving game community. I'm sure some credit goes to Dave Arneson (Saint Paul's patron gaming saint) for his involvement/innovation in the early days of wargaming and roleplaying.

Whatever kept the die rolling in this town has really taken permanent root.

The con was Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and I'd signed up for a few games on each day, but I didn't get to any of them. Both as a consequence of an unusually hectic work week and the fact that I wanted to polish the Rad Astra adventure I ran for X-plorers on Saturday night.

But I didn't miss out on gaming.

Gaining XP as a First-time Con-goer

One of the great things about Con of the North is that everyone is gaming everywhere--including the hallways! One game I stumbled upon was a tricked-out version of Aliens!

Now, I'm not even a huge fan of the film (I like it just fine, but I'm not an Aliens fanboy, per se) but this was not to be missed. It used 6" action figures for the marines and aliens and a TON of scratch-built debris as the terrain.  See if you can identify all the sci-fi references built into the game (click on pics to embiggen):

Everything from Star Wars to Doctor Who action figures were used--in some creative way to be in scale. The gameboard itself was at least 6 feet long and each space about 3"x3" (possibly larger).  

The guy behind this fantastic setup is Steve Bauman--he built the game and drew up his version of the rules. I don't know if playing with action figures as pawns is a relatively new thing at cons, but this was just pure fun. Steve called his version "Aliens: Escape from the Robotics Lab".

There was another game with a different board set up going on at the same time and due to a mix-up (that there were two of these Aliens games going on simultaneously but in different locations) Steve's players all ended up at that other game table. So I got to join in along with a few other passerbys. 

It's been a few days since the con, but I believe the gameplay went something like this:

The objective is to get at least 7 of 9 marines across the board, regardless of whether they're healthy, wounded, or incapacitated (carried by other marines). Sequence of play (as best I can recall):

1. Aliens move (they move 4)
2. New aliens appear (always 3)
3. Aliens attack (they "grab" prey, leaving them unable to fight)
4. Marines move/attack (up to 3 actions, depending on character)
5. Repeat!

Each marine has a card with the number of actions they can take and their weapon determines their range. So Apone has the flamethrower (I got to play him!) and he can fry aliens without dealing with splashback from acid, but the fire only goes up to 4 squares away. Meanwhile Hicks (has, I think a pulse rifle? shotgun?) can hit foes even farther away.

 Apone and his flamethrower! 

A queen! GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER!

"I'll...be...right...here...attacking from behind!"

The game uses d10 (10 = zero) and you want to roll lower (generally). It's based on line-of-sight and they even had laser pointers to help judge angles. 

Seriously, without exaggeration, this was one of the coolest games I've ever played!

Sadly, I didn't get to finish since I had to get to my table for the game I was running. But Steve didn't let me leave without a parting gift. See, we here in Minnesota, live in the Land of the State Fair (our largest, longest, and most fattening tradition).

So, of course, I took home one of these:

ALIEN-ON-A-STICK!

SO MUCH FUN!!!

(Pics were kinda' fuzzy, sorry about that!)

There also was one game I didn't get to play but looked amazing.

Con of the North: X-plorers Play Report!

I ran my FIRST EVER con game Saturday night at Con of the North and (I think) it went really well. But, I'm not taking credit for running a great game--I'd say it was great because I was fortunate to a group of players who were:

1. Allowing of my naive, baby-deer-learning-to-walk referee skills, and-- 
2. They were really good roleplayers. I had a full table too--six of six players showed! 

John Till from Fate SF was the first to arrive and we chatted a bit beforehand. He did much to bolster my confidence. I ran the X-plorers Box Set (Limited Edition) rules, sans the corporations-in-space setting. I also threw out quite a bit of the regular rules (Basic Hit Bonuses and the four-phase space combat rules) just to make things go faster (we only had two hours!). The game ran from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm, which was perfect for a wooly, space adventure. For some players, this was the last game of the day. Now on to the highlights as best I can recall.... 

Note: In a completely boneheaded move, I forgot to take actual game-play photos. So here's a few images from the campaign...

Character Generation Made Easier

Right now is also a good time to thank John Adams for creating X-plorers Players Guide pamplets because those TOTALLY saved my bacon. Character generation goes a lot quicker with a bunch of these and some pre-printed character sheets handed out at the table. They rolled up 2 scouts, 2 scientists, and 2 soldiers. I had them roll 4d6 and throw out the lowest. I think John had one attribute with a 4! By in large, I think the PCs ended up overpowered on skills, mostly because I let them...but then I threw a LOT of adversaries at them, so it evened out in the end.

Nicodemus Hasselfury!

Return...or Revenge?

Not wanting to repeat my earlier adventure, I ran a new one that I'd dashed off mostly Saturday morning (the day of!) having had the rough outline in my head for barely a day before that. Basically, it was "Return to the Forbidden Planet," but since Altair IV went ka-blewie at the end of that movie, I assumed the Krell had been a spacefaring race and made another base on Aquailae Gamma. So I called it "Revenge of the Forbidden World." That all made for some confusing backstory--but, on the upside it didn't matter once the group got into some action encounters.

The Black Rider (like this--but, er, black...)

One thing I didn't change too much from the previous game I ran was having the PCs wake up from cryo-stasis aboard an already enroute ship, The Black Rider. That trope seems to work well in moving things along. The ship's butlerbot, JV-3Z, or "Jeeves," tells the PCs they've been selected from the infantry inventory (grown and stored in a giant underground warehouse on Earth) for a black ops mission. Handpicked by Captain Nicodemus Hasslefury himself!

Stiletto fighter

Hasselfury turns out to be useless to them--disappearing whenever things get rough and the boys had their hands full. Having just woke up from cryo, the proximity alarm went off and they ended up fighting off two wings of Drukhar starfighters (single-pilot, Stiletto-type, 6 total). 

After hailing and bluffing failed (they had to at least try to keep their cover) they engaged, and took out, half the enemy ships (the others bugged out). 

Arrival on Aquailae Gamma

Recon, Intel, Telemetry Automaton (RITA)

After landing, Hasselfury, true to his nature, punked out and stayed behind on the ship for repairs while the grunts took to seeking out the MacGuffin--a psionic amplifier capable of weaponizing the user's own consciousness into a--we'll get to that in a second. 

Jeeves stayed behind with Hasselfury to work on the ship, but they did take another robot companion with, RITA (Reconaissance, Intelligence, and Telemetry Automaton). She's got one up on RIGB-E from the last game in that she's armed and she can hover over rough terrain (something with which RIGB-E has a lot of difficulty). 

The ship was already low on supplies (thanks to an in-flight encounter when the crew was in cryo), so the heaviest weapons available were a few laser rifles.

Hasslefury dug out something special for each party member: a small stim capsule (a fluid stimulant/mutagenic agent delivered via chapstick-sized capsule with hypo-needle). He ordered them not to use them unless they really needed them. Then everyone "turned the capsules over to read the label" (rolled 1d6) and this is what they were given:

MUTAGEN STIM (1d6)

1. Extra arm (extra attack)
2. Tail with bony mace at the end (extra melee attack)
3. High Kicks (kangroo legs - double movement)
4. Quils (fire 1d6+1 poison tipped)
5. Space Yeti!
6. No effect, dud

The rolls went: one tail, a couple a' extra arm stims, and not one but THREE SPACE YETI stims! I really had no clue how I was going to make that work.

Flashback to Saturday afternoon: while eating a terrible turkey sandwich in the hotel restaurant (should have known better!), I thought I should include something that could turn out to be completely up-ending for both me and the players. It would give them the chance to ham things up and me the opportunity to roll with their ideas. So with hours to go, I added it in.

It worked TOO WELL. More on that later.

Doom Squad Warriors

Using her sensors, RITA pinpointed the Krell compound where the weapon was located--and a Doom Squad of Drukhar warriors behind a nearby bluff. The bogies that fled the space battle had already alerted their companions on-planet, who were now on the lookout for Hasselfury's squad. 

And from the frying pan into the fire, they stumbled on to a pride of Aquilan Land-Mantas. Basically bed-sized manta-crabs with stinger-armed tails. 

My strategy was to get them to split their offensive, which they did eventually, but to their credit they handled it well. A well-aimed shot took out one of the mantas. But in its death cry--it shrieked and alerted the Doom Squad--blowing the party's position.

This encounter was likely the hardest for me as a more novice GM--not knowing how long to let the encounter last, while still remembering that they had a lot of plot-relevant stuff to get to. So I let the mantas retreat so the PCs could focus their firepower on one enemy. I don't think I'd do it again, but I was keen on them getting to, at least, the big baddie stage of the game. There was plenty of laserfire to come and nobody seemed to even notice.

Every Yeti for Himself

Space Yetis!

For some reason, about this time, one of the scientists in a rush to--I don't know what--make something happen (?)  STABBED A TEAMMATE WITH HIS MUTAGEN STIM! That guy grew a tail. Instantaneously.

The next round the same "mad" scientist (there's always one!) decided he needed to have more armor and tried to pry the controls to RITA away from the other scientist, so he could get his hands on a fallen Drukhar warrior's combat suit. RITA, operates mainly under single-operator remote control and she's got two hip-mounted, quick-shot lasers, but she's meant to be more of floating tricorder and my way of giving the PCs important info. 

With the two science officers now in fisticuffs over the controls, the rogue scientist won out and used RITA to loot a downed enemy of his armored suit. RITA managed to survive this ill-conceived row. The other scientist, understandably anxious at this point, took matters into his own hands and stuck himself with his Space Yeti mutagen. I was certain this would escalate, but to his immense credit, he ran into the compound instead to secure the Krell weapon--which triggered the final phase of the game. 

Lord Zathar of the Drukhar Empire

Now that the PCs were entering the base, the Drukhar's commander, Lord Zathar--wielding a sonic sword and leading a second squad--made an appearance. He'd arrived to reinforce the Doom Squad that the PCs had cut through (a little too easily for my tastes, BTW).

As it turned out, a lucky roll and fate intervened. One of the soldiers got off a shot with his laser rifle and winged the evil warlord quite severely (note to self: that dude's AC needs adjustment). Seeing imminent defeat, Zathar called for a full retreat of his forces--but not before leaving a present behind for the heroes.

Zathar had been on the planet long enough to play with the Krell weapon before the PCs arrived. Through an amulet slung around his neck, activated a giant energy wraith, containing his angry subconscious--our heroes now trapped by it in a narrow hallway inside the compound. 

Giant Energy Wraith, a psionic/electrical monstrosity!

You can't make this $h!t up!

Miraculously, they were able to hold off the creature while they looked for the power feed (it was energized a la wireless Tesla power).  The luckiest roll in the game arrived just in time to save one lucky bastard (one of the scouts) who took a full-frontal electric blast and SURVIVED his saving throw with a NATURAL 20. The only explanation was that the blast was somehow grounded. He was reduced to zero HP, but he lived to fight another day. Once they cut the power, the wraith winked out of existence like a cathode ray tube television signal.

X-plorers Players Guides make for great freebies!

XP You Can Take to the Bank

With the heavies vanquished and Krell tech intact, Hasselfury shows up just in time (natch) to pick up the boys. They've saved the galaxy from a Drukhar superweapon and survived! From the beginning I wanted to reward great roleplaying (with moxie and flourish) handsomely with XP, and they walked away richly compensated. I let all the players keep the players guides, plus a colorful, golf ball-sized 1d20 they got to use during the game. 

So how did I do?

Well, I'm positive I played too fast and too loose with the rules (I will be re-re-re-reading the space combat rules, ASAP), but everyone were great sports and just went with it. My overly ambitious adventure seemed to be a crowd pleaser. A few said it "went really fast" which is exactly the opposite feeling I had--probably because I constantly felt the need to keep things clipping along. (Is it normal to feel exhausted afterwards?) But thanks to fantastic players who were willing to just go with the flow, they really did seem to enjoy themselves--can't ask for better than that.

If I get to run this as a campaign, I'm interested in using the new classes I'm working on (and other surprises) in the full-fledged Rad Astra setting.  I've got contact info from some of the guys and I'm seriously considering starting a regular X-plorers game at the Source.

And there's room left to continue with Zathar's end-of-the-game getaway. Alas, we've not seen the last of him--he will have a major role in the overall saga of the Rad Astra space opera...


I have one more post to do on my con experience (mainly another game I played) so stay tuned!