is a step-by-step breakdown of the eleventh Campaign Turn and Mission in my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. This Turn's battle was much less epic than the previous two Turns. That's not a complaint. I'm happy there's so much variety from one Turn to the next. Plus, as you'll see below, this Turn we made our first trip to a new planet, and that was a really compelling and interesting part of the game that I hadn't gotten to see yet. I'm very pleased with how the game builds stories organically and constantly serves up surprises.
Crew names below are often abbreviated G to M, as explained in: Crew Roster, which also tells you about my team and a bit about their ship. See also the Index of my Five Parsecs articles for a list of previous Missions and other content.
Pre-Battle:
This is my first time relocating to a new planet. Buckle up and stow your tray tables, because the next few steps are going to be quite involved.
1.1 Flee Invasion: - n/a
1.2 Decide Whether to Travel: - Yes, we're headed to Tiresias-3, a planet also known as "The Soup". Fuel costs 5 of our 16 Credits, leaving us with 11.
Leonidas again announces his intention to stay behind, as he has decided space is not for him and Aceso Menrva Prime is pretty nice. This is from a character event that was rolled up for him several Turns ago. Per the event, I can spend a Story Point to make him change his mind, or I can let him go and I can keep his equipment.
In the end, I decide to spend the Story Point. Why? Because his listed Motivation (rolled up in character creation) is Loyalty. He'd rather stay on this cushy planet, but he'd feel like a cad if he ditched out on his crew while this whole Q'narr situation hanging over their heads. Per the Story Track, Q'narr has hired AbsuCorp and Blood Storm to hunt down the crew of the Rhapsody, and Leo can't walk away while that's standing.
1.3 Starship Travel Event: Down-time: It’s a long time to just sit here. Select a crew member of choice and add +1 XP. Well, if Leonidas is sticking with us, I might as well make his decision worth it.
The crew has time to do maintenance tasks, and can Repair 1 damaged item with no roll required. Moreva fixes H'Xex's Combat Armor.
1.4 New World Arrival Steps: -
I roll for all our Rivals, and it turns out The B'Lilu Gang of K'Erin Outlaws hate us enough to chase us all the way to The Soup.
The Fellowship of Temporal Philosophers are Persistent, so they have a branch office on Tiresias-3. All our other Patrons are left behind on Aceso Menrva Prime.
Licensing Requirements:
Freelancer License - Required, and will cost us 1 credit.
Salvage License Required (this is from the Salvage Jobs expansion, which is a 2nd Edition supplement, but is mostly compatible with 3rd Ed, and I'd like the challenge and mission variety, so I plan to use it before this campaign ends) - Salvage Laws roll is: Salvage Rich Environment. Increased chance of Salvage Jobs being available. Local Salvage Licenses cost 5 Credits. Universal License is recognized, and would cost 30 Credits.
We spend 6 Credits on the two License types. We are now down to 5 credits, having started the Turn with 16.
I'm using the "Wild Galaxy" optional rule, where each World gets 2 World Traits, instead of just 1. The World Traits here on Tiresias-3 are:
- Planet-Wide Fog - All shots beyond 8" are -1 to Hit.
- Booming Economy - When rolling for post-battle credit rewards, any 1 on the dice are rerolled until it shows a score other than a 1.
So now that we're actually on the planet, it's time to use my Cargo Bay and all the fun delivery items I've picked up in the first 10 Campaign Turns.
Cargo Hold - "The hold of the ship has been upgraded to be environmentally stable. When traveling to a new planet, you may take on cargo. Roll 2D6 and discard any 5-6. Select the highest remaining die and earn that many credits from delivering a shipment to the new world. If both dice are discarded, no shipments are available. If your ship is damaged in transit, the cargo is also lost." - I roll a "6" and a "3", so we make +3 Credits with default Cargo, bringing us back up to 8.
(Now, you could argue the Cargo Hold isn't worth the investment it takes to build one on your ship. Travel between planets happens rarely enough that you're only going to come out ahead in a really long campaign... but it's a fun element that just packs so much sci-fi flavor that I really wanted to give it a try. And now that I've got one, I may be tempted to planet-hop unnecessarily, just to fill out my corner of universe. During crew creation we'd rolled up "We are best characterized as: Living the dream!" so this seems like a good choice for Roleplaying reasons at the very least. I might also consider getting the Hidden Compartment installed at some point, as they have good synergy together.)Inshubur and Moreva each have a Delivery Package gained from Character Events. These sell for 3 each, and then you roll a die for each. On 1-2 you gain 1 Rival and 1 Story Point. - I roll a "1" and a "5". So we gain 1 Story Point, 1 new Rival, and 6 Credits (bringing us back up to 14). I roll twice on the Unknown Rivals chart and get my choice of Zealots or a Salvage Team. Both sound interesting, but since I just bought a Salvage License and am in the middle of unloading a huge load of cargo and scrap, it makes the most sense that some local Salvage Team sees us muscling in on their territory, and doesn't like it.
We also have 2 x Trade Goods: Every time you arrive on a new planet, you may roll 1D6 to see how many Credits the goods will sell for here. You can wait as long as you like, but if you roll a 1, they have perished or become damaged, and are now worthless. - I roll double 5's! That's 10 more credits (bringing us up to 24).
And we have 1 Personal Trinket: On each planet you visit in the future, roll 2D6. On a 9+ you find the owner and receive a [Loot roll] (p.131) as payment. - I roll "1" and "6", so this doesn't pay out just yet.
I have 3 credits worth of Debris and Scrap to sell as well. It came from a "Battlefield Finds" roll. Normally, you just mark it as Credits immediately, with the sale happening as part of the resolution of the end of the battle, but my previous planet had Import Restrictions that prevented selling it (or anything) there. So that's +3 Credits more (bringing us to 27.)
I also have some unused crew items I'd like to sell, but the rules indicate I have to wait until the Post-Battle Step "Purchase Items" to sell those.
Lastly, we have Vital info from a previous battle: "Turn in this information to get a Corporate Patron automatically". I roll up the possible standing Benefit for the Corporation, and get "Health Insurance", so I decide the company is Chariclo Cyberoptics. This info was taken off a Blood Storm Mercenary body, so it's probably some damning evidence that Blood Storm hit one of their CyberEye export vessels.
So, we started the Turn with 16 Credits, spent down to just 5 remaining between fuel and licenses, and then sold cargo of various sorts to get us back up to 27 credits. We spent a story point, then gained one. We ditched one rival, then picked up a new one. We did leave 5 of our 6 Patrons behind, which is going to sting a little, but overall it was a good start to the Turn. Most importantly, moving to another world means we can progress the Story Track, and it was fun to see all the transit rules and use our cargo bay.
1.5 Gain 1 story point if it's turn 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, etc. - not this time.
2.1 Upkeep and Ship Repairs: -
Crew Upkeep - Would be 2, but I have "Basic Supplies" I can spend instead. Ship Debt - 0 Ship Repairs - 0 Medical Care - 0
2.2 Assign and Resolve Crew Tasks: -
Find a Patron - I,G Train - L Trade - H, K Recruit - Explore - M Track - Repair Your Kit - Decoy -
Noteworthy results from Tasks: -
Leonidas trains, and buys his first point of Luck. Now five of my seven crew have Luck!
Trade for a Glare Sword, and some Spare Parts.
While exploring, Moreva meets a new Patron and is offered a Job.
Juniper can't perform a Crew Task this turn because she got into an argument with the crew late last Turn about people not being punctual and timely. We'll see how they like it!
2.3 Determine Job Offers: -
There's three Patron Jobs on offer this turn. Two from the usual route, and one from Exploration.
The first is from a Edmark Creon III, a Wealthy Individual. He would be potentially Persistent, but this missions Condition is a One-Time Contract, so we'll actually never see him again. Danger Pay is minimal. This Low-Priority job would be to Move Through some Black Dragon Mercs, and keep an eye open for notably Shiny Bits. It's only available this Turn.
The other, a mission from our old friends at the Fellowship of Temporal Philosophers, is a lot more appealing. Danger Pay is significant. A Private Transport is offered so it can't be interrupted by Rivals. It's a straight-up combat mission against Warbots, with a Priority Target. (Given the Patron, it may be time-traveling warbots.) All in all this sounds much better. Unfortunately, it's got the Condition of "Reputation Required". I can't accept this Mission until I've successfully completed some other Patron Mission on this world. I may decide to pay a Story Point to waive that, given that I've done a Mission for the Fellowship of Temporal Philosophers on another world. The mission is available on a wider Time Frame, valid until Turn 13, so I might not have to spend it if I do the less sexy Creon mission first.
Later, while Exploring, Moreva learns that Cerberus Alarm Systems needs someone to Protect their Corporate VIP on a planned negotiations with a band of Skulker Brigands that have been giving them trouble. Right up our alley, but unfortunately this job also Requires a Reputation. It's on an open-ended unlimited Time Frame, thankfully.
2.4 Assign Equipment: - As a reward for sticking around when he was sorely tempted to stay on the other planet, the crew gives Leonidas the new Glare Sword.
2.5 Resolve Rumors: - When I get to this step, I remember that we actually had a Quest chain start off at this step in the previous Turn, and I never really rolled up anything more about it than a random name. I'll roll up the first Quest Mission now:
We'd extracted a data file from the files in the Cultist compound that had been infiltrated by Q'narr's Blood Storm Mercs. The data talks about something called "The Xanthous Soul from the 5th Dimension". That fancy name is random nonsense I rolled up here... I mean, it's a totally legit meaningful Quest. That's it.
Quest Mission 1: Objective: Search (Put a token on each medium or large terrain feature. A character in contact with, inside, or on the feature may search it as a Combat Action. Roll 1D6. A 5+ finds what you were looking for, and you Win. If the roll fails at every location, the item is not on the battlefield, and the mission cannot be Won. If you drive the enemy away, simply add up the remaining features and roll the dice all at once to see if the item was here.) Deployment Condition: Poor visibility (Maximum visibility is 1D6+8”. Reroll at the start of each round.) Enemy: Interested Parties: Corporate Security.
2.6 Choose Your Battle - Rolled a 3, so neither of our 2 Rivals on this planet harass us just yet.
I'm hoping to launch into a Salvage Mission soon, but clearly the right call this Turn is to take Edmark Creon III up on his Job offer. If we can successfully complete it, it will open the door to the other Patron Missions available to us.
Job Description:
1. Potential Patron: Edmark Creon III Type: Wealthy Individual B5+ H8+ C8+ Benefits: not this time Danger Pay: +1 Credit, Time Frame: Turn 11 Only Hazard: Low Priority (Reduce Enemy force numbers by -1.) Condition: One-time Contract (This Patron cannot be retained as a contact.) Enemy: Hired Muscle: Black Dragon Mercs
Battle:
Planetary Condition: - Planet-Wide Fog - All shots beyond 8" are -1 to Hit.
Notable Sights: Shiny bits: Gain 1 credit.
Objective: Move Through (You Win the mission if at least 2 crew members move off the opposing battlefield edge. If you drive off all enemies, you Win as long as you have at least 2 crew members remaining.)
Enemy Type: - Black Dragon Mercs
Numbers: +1 (adjusted to +0 because of Low Priority mission hazard status) Panic:1-2 Speed: 5” Combat: +1 Tough: 5 AI: Tactical
Hired Muscle: PCs are -1 to any attempt to Seize the Initiative.
Stubborn: They ignore the first casualty of the battle when making a Morale check.
2 regulars with Military Rifles , 1 specialists with Fury Rifle, and 1 LT w/ Military Rifle + Blade
Deployment: We set up in the South, aiming to exit off the North end.
There's a bunch of water on the map, so wading through that will be difficult terrain. We'll assume the walkways are elevated on posts and pylons and have a railing on them. Anyone on or behind them is in cover against shots coming across. Climbing up on to a walkway from anywhere but a stairs will cost 2 inches (which is pretty cheap, actually, given that you're probably getting close to an inch of forward movement as well as the height boost).
Enemy sets up in the North. There's only 4 of them, and Tactical AI says to split them up into 3 teams. It also says they try to stay close to friendly figures, so I consider only splitting them into 2 teams of 2, which seems smarter. Then I remember my goal is to get past them, so it's more of a challenge if they're covering their entire table edge.
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| Green arrows are PC movement. Red arrows are Enemies maneuvering. The orange arrow is Enemy reinforcement that shows up after Round 2. Note that the Sniper on top of the dome, and the warbot near the top show up mid-game, not at the start of the fight. |
Round 1: -
Seize the Initiative: Moreva's 3 in Savvy is enough to get the jump on them. (Rolled an 11 on 2d6+3-1.)
Quick Actions - Great initiative roll. All but 1 of my characters can advance. The Kid shoots, but misses because of the Planet-Wide Fog. Inshubur can't get a clear line of fire because of the bench on the platform by the western dome. H'Xex jump-belts forward the central ruin, and despite the fog manages to hit the Fury gunner, but only stuns him.
Enemy Actions - Fury gunner misses H'Xex, but the LT manages to stun him. Black Dragon regular advances on the west, and the one in the east shoots at the Kid but misses.
Slow Actions - Leonidas moves forward, and takes a shot at at the enemy LT. Despite the fog, and the intervening cover from the walkway, he gets a lucky roll and the Enemy LT goes down.
Panic Test - Because they are Stubborn, they fight on.
Enemy Ploy on a "1". It is triggered, so I roll on the Ploy table from the "Tricks and Guns" PDF (I got it through the game designer's patreon). SNIPER!!! A new enemy with a Marksman's rifle is placed on top of the tallest piece of cover that no PCs are near. He's laying flat on the hex-frame of the northeast dome. The sniper's got special rules for morale.
Round 2: -
Quick - Another solid initiative roll. Inshubur advances around the west side. She shoots a Merc, but just stuns them and sends them over a railing.
L, K, and J all fire on the Sniper. Even with two of them Aiming, it still takes all three to shake the sniper loose. We score a single hit, and it's enough.
Enemy - The villains settle in to cover and open fire, but all miss. The fog makes long range shots pretty unreliable.
Slow - H'Xex shakes off his stun and gets into cover.
Panic Test - I roll a "3", so they hold firm.
Roll for Battle Events between Round 2 and 3 - "Enemy VIP: A Unique Individual immediately joins the enemy force. Place them on the center of their battlefield edge." They've got a state-of-the-art Mark II Security Bot!
Numbers: +1 (adjusted to +0 because of Low Priority mission hazard status) Panic: Fearless Speed: 4” Combat: +2 Tough: 5 AI: Guardian
Targeting AI: May fire twice per round at the two closest visible targets. If only one target is visible, only one shot is taken.
Robot Body: 6+ Saving Throw.
Round 3: -
Quick - Juniper aims and lines up a shot with the bipod on her Plasma Rifle. She takes out the Fury gunner. Inshubur also gets a lucky shot that frees up the western edge of the map
Enemy - The last Black Dragon Merc fires at the Kid and misses. The Security Bot heads towards the Merc to team up and Guard him. It takes 2 shots with its Fury Rifle (one at L, one at K) but both miss.
Slow - Moreva shoots at the bot, but misses due to fog. The Kid shoots at the last Merc, and kills him. H'Xex jump-belts up to the Bot and breaks it into pieces with his Shatter Axe.
Analysis:
The Planet-Wide Fog definitely made the fight a little longer, but ultimately my team has enough skill and equipment to overcome it. The Black Dragon Mercs did not, even with Aiming and Fury Rifles. We did miss more than normal, but still hit more often than the enemies.
The Sniper Ploy sounded scarier than it played out. The Ploy mechanic is cool overall, but it feels like maybe it needs to be a little more aggro to get the intended effect. At least in the case of the Sniper, it feels like they should shoot immediately upon be placed on the map. Instead, it follows the usual timing rules, which meant with a half-way decent Initiative roll you're likely to get half your crew shooting at it before the sniper acts. That seems backwards from the standard sniper narrative. I did get a good initiative roll that turn, but since Ploys are a mechanic you add mid-campaign as a way to boost difficulty, it seems likely that you'll usually have strong Reactions on several crewman by then. I pointed this out to the designer on his Discord. Since the current Ploy mechanics are playtest/patreon, not final version, who knows? Maybe we'll end up with something a little nastier when they officially see print? That would be cool.
There are some other optional rules (in the playtest files on patreon or discord) that I could use to enhance difficulty, and I think I will start utilizing those (especially the "Hit Me Harder" option) with the next mission.
My Bad: I didn't figure this out until after the battle, but I was actually playing the Merc's "Tactical AI" incorrectly. The wording is pretty subtle, but it turns out the statement "If they have a clear shot and are in Cover, they will remain in place to Aim" has a precise meaning for 'clear shot' in that context. For them to sit still requires both themselves in cover and the enemy to NOT be in cover. So the ones on the west and east flanks should have moved around more, instead of holding still and firing. It makes their behavior a bit more involved than Cautious or Defensive AI. I'll have to remember that for next time I'm up against Tactical AI. I'd been using a cheat-sheet that just paraphrased the rulebook, which made it even obscured. It's hard to say if doing this right would have made the mission harder or easier, it's probably a wash. Aiming gave them better odds to hit, but they never managed to land a wounding blow so it didn't really benefit them. Getting closer might have changed who their targets were, or eliminated the planet-wide fog penalty.
Post-Battle:
4.1 Resolve Rival Status: - I rolled high, so they do not become Rivals.
4.2 Resolve Patron Status: - This is a One-Time Contract, so I do NOT get to add the Wealthy Individual to my Patron list. It does however contribute to my "Reputation Required" Missions being unlocked on this world, so that's good.
4.3 Determine Quest Progress: - N/A
4.4 Get Paid and Benefits of Success: - 5 credits total (3 for winning, +1 for Danger pay, +1 from Notable Sight)
Planetary Condition - Booming Economy - When rolling for post-battle credit rewards, any 1 on the dice are rerolled until it shows a score other than a 1.
For notable sights that are unclaimed during the battle itself, I have a special house rule I use, where each surviving character can roll 1d6+Savvy, and if any of them get a 6+, we get the notable sight. That way, it's not 100% guaranteed if I ignore it to focus on the fighting. I took the gamble this time, and won.
4.5 Battlefield Finds: - My fourth dose of the consumable "Still". I always forget I have these. Still gives you a bonus for shooting, but costs you your movement. It's actually probably worth using on this foggy world.
4.6 Check for Invasion!: - N/A
4.7 Gather the Loot: - On the body of the Sniper, we find a Tracker Sight: "+1 to Hit if you fired at the same target during your previous round."
4.8 Determine Injuries and Recovery: - No one was KO'd.
4.9 Experience and Character Upgrades: G.0 H.4 I.3 J.3 K.4 L.4 M.3 - First Kill: L Rookie: K Unique: H
Laboring in this thick atmosphere does a lot to toughen you up. Inshubur raises her Toughness to 4. Juniper cashes in one of our two single-use Instruction Books to get the final XP she needs to raise Toughness to 5.
The Kid continues to practice his quick-draw, raising his Reactions to a 4.
4.10 Invest in Advanced Training: - Some of these are really starting to look interesting. Soon.
4.11 Purchase Items: - I sell a handgun, a shotgun, and a military rifle, for 1 credit each. This brings our total to 34 credits.
Time to invest in a Starship Modification. We install a Shuttle and corresponding launch bay. This will help with starship travel and escaping planetary invasions. Those are both pretty rare, so I mostly got it so that I can drop a shuttle onto the map during deployment. I sometimes struggle for how and where to set up my minis during the game. Deploying them in a way that's really tactical feels like easy mode and kind of against the spirit of the Seize the Initiative rules, so I've been considering placing my shuttle on the map at the start of each Mission, and deploying my people within a few inches of it. That seems like a good compromise, a thematic win that also helps keep me from making too much progress on Round 1 of a fight. The shuttle costs 15 credits, leaving me with 19 in my stash.
4.12 Campaign Event: - The sector news networks are awash with rumors of war. While you remain on this planet, any roll for Invasion is at +2. (Suddenly, just like that, I'm feeling real good about buying that evac shuttle.)
4.13 Character Event: - Juniper has had time to reflect on her adventures. Earns +1 XP.
4.14 Check for Galactic War Progress: - N/A
4.15 Tick Story Clock: - 1 (currently on track for the next Story encounter on Turn 13)
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