Starforged Jam

 There's a game jam going on for Ironsworn: Starforged. I've been meaning to try a game jam one of these days for like... the last 5 years at least... so I dusted off a custom Oracle that I used in a session or two of Starforged, spent a night brainstorming another 20 entries or so, and trying to getting it formatted roughly along the lines of the official books, etc. I just put it up as a pdf on itch.io, and submitted it to the jam.

Starport Scuttlebutt

When I play Ironsworn: Starforged, I tend to be laser-focused on the plot and story. It's not uncommon for me to get 10 or 20 sessions into play before I get around to adding a single planet that wasn't part of my initial Sector Set-Up. By default, I find I pretty much only add those other worlds if the narrative brings my character directly to them. That sort of misses the point of sci-fi, though. Even if I'm spending most of my time on just a few worlds, I want the grand sense that there's a whole galaxy of adventure out there, and plots in motion beyond what my little ship is doing! So I created this Oracle, which incorporates ideas from various map-making games, to breathe a little life and activity into the background.

Here's how it works: A little less than once per session, you roll on this Oracle and add a world, settlement, faction, ship or NPC as directed by the prompt you rolled on the chart. The blank void of the map gets slowly filled in, fleets cruise between the stars, and political situations simmer behind the scenes. Your world-building gets kicked up a notch as a result, and your story fits into a larger context.

 The Oracle is triggered by situations where your character is in a position to hear rumors and news reports about what's happening in the sector, so it feels organic and is easy to fit in to your ongoing story. Step into the starport cantina, to catch the latest gossip from the old spacers sitting at the bar... have they got stories to tell you!

If you've ever played Starforged, please go check out my little creation: Starport Scuttlebutt.  It's available as Pay-What-You-Want, and $0 is just fine by me.

The link: https://rbbergstrom.itch.io/starport-scuttlebutt-oracle-for-starforged 

Star-Forged: The Eluss Fold

 

Occasionally playing a bit of Starforged in the evenings. (It's the sci-fi/space version of Ironsworn.)  The above is my map of The Eluss Sector, which I assembled from Assets available on Roll20. The Luminous Coil is my PC's ship. The Cacophony is a derelict ship he investigated. The Ophidian Mantle is a enemy vessel we've tangled with twice.

5 Parsecs From Home: Turn 13 / Story Track Event 3

This is a step-by-step breakdown of the thirteenth Campaign Turn in my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. This Turn's mission is also the third "Event" in the "Story Track". The Story Track is an optional plot thread that (if you've elected to use it in your campaign) shows up about every fourth Turn or so, with a custom mission that shakes things up a bit. This time, it's a pretty brutal close-quarters combat, pistols in the fog from just inches away.

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:
1.1 Flee Invasion: - n/a

1.2 Decide Whether to Travel: - no

1.3 Starship Travel Event: - n/a

1.4 New World Arrival Steps: -n/a 

1.5 Gain 1 story point if it's turn 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, etc. - n/a

2.1 Upkeep and Ship Repairs: -
Crew Upkeep - 1    Ship Debt - 0    Ship Repairs - 0    Medical Care - H needs 5 turns of recovery, and I don't have enough credits to get him out this Turn.

2.2 Assign and Resolve Crew Tasks: -
Find a Patron -    Train -     Trade - M    Recruit -    Explore - J,L    Track -    Repair Your Kit -     Decoy - G,K
Noteworthy results from Tasks: -

    Inshubur plans the attack. From the Story Track for this Turn: "One crew member of choice must be assigned to plan the attack. This crew member cannot take any actions this campaign turn. If you are not ready, you can opt to delay for one more campaign turn, but after that, it’s go time!"
    Moreva trades for Local Maps that may prove useful for future Quests
    Leonidas trades away his old Blade for Combat Armor!

2.3 Determine Job Offers: - Doing the 3rd Story Track event. Thankfully, I didn't roll a "1" and trigger Rival interference.

2.4 Assign Equipment: - n/a

2.5 Resolve Rumors: - n/a

2.6 Choose Your Battle -
Job Description:
Story Track Event 3: Disrupting the Plan - Your old friend is up to something big, and it’s time to teach his people a little lesson. You’ve found out where his organization is storing contraband for sale off-world, and you’ve decided to pay them a visit.

 
Battle: Story Track Event #3


Deployment Conditions:  Set up like a camp, with crates and barrels all over. Scatter 5 Goons, 2 Bruisers, and 1 Leader around the map.

Select which battlefield edge you want to enter from, and roll to Seize the Initiative (at +3 because I captured a mercenary in Story Track #2).

Enemy within 12” of crew figures will act with Defensive AI. Enemy that are not within 12” of crew figures will first attempt to reach the center of the battlefield, then go Defensive.

Planetary Condition: - Planet-Wide Fog - All shots beyond 8" are -1 to Hit.

Notable Sights:  The mission clearly spells out unusual deployment and objectives, so obviously you don't roll on those charts. It doesn't mention whether or not Notable Sights are a thing, but I'm going to assume that since they aren't mentioned, they're not used this mission. If I ever play the story track a second time, with a new crew, maybe I would add one just to mix it up, but this time, there's nothing notable to see here. Move along.  

EDIT: My bad, it's actually spelled out on page 152 that there are no Deployment Conditions or Notable Sights in any Story Track Events. I somehow missed that on my first two reads of the chapter, having included Notable Sights in Story Track Missions #2 and #3. Including them did not seem to break anything, just for the record. So, if having a dynamic mission is more important to you than following the rulebook strictly, go for it. 

Objective: - Sabotage the AeroSpace Fighter that my old friend has just purchased before his techs can get it armed with the missile they just purchased.

To Win, you need to either Hold the Field, or fight your way to the center of the battlefield and plant a sabotage device. This takes a Combat Action and requires a 1D6+Savvy roll of 5+. If failed, the roll can be attempted again by other characters, or through future Actions. Once planted, the opposition will retreat from the battlefield at the end of the next round.
• If you drive off every opponent, you can just plant the device at your own leisure.
• If the battle drags on too long, reinforcements will show up. 2 Goons in each of Rounds 8 and 12 will arrive at the end of the round, in the center of a randomly selected battlefield edge.

Enemy Type: -  AbsuCorp Goons, Bruisers, and a Boss

Numbers: - 5/2/1   Panic: 1-2     Speed: 4”     Combat: +0 to +1     Tough: 3 to 4     AI: D*    

5 Goons with Machine Pistols, 2 Bruisers with Shotguns and Brutal Melee,  1 Leader w/ Blast Pistol and Blade

Deploy: Enemy are scattered around the camp. I'm entering from the North. Because they have a big missile, I'm not bringing my Shuttle or ship anywhere near this place, so I'll be scattering my people along that Northern Edge. One of the cool things about this Mission is that deployment is very atypical. Usually the enemy is really far away. Instead, we can get the drop on the ones near our table edge.

In this Mission, the villains have modified AI. It's mostly the Defensive AI, but with extra instructions to head toward my Mission Objective if there's not PCs nearby them. This has an interesting dynamic where the player is tempted to rush the Objective early, before it's swarming with baddies.

Round 1: - Seize the Initiative:  We've got +3 for capturing and interrogating a mercenary in the previous Story Track Mission. Presumably that stacks with the usual +1 for being outnumbered. So that means that if our 2d6 roll is a 6+, all my people will get to act once before the first turn. I get cocky, and roll a 4. So we've blown our early advantage, but there's still normal initiative.

Quick Actions - We open with Plasma fire! Moreva shoots the closest Goon, stunning him and knocking him back to where Juniper can see him. She fires, one stun and the second hit kill.

Inshubur moves into melee with the next closest Goon. He fumbles, but both damage rolls are low so he only ends up double-stunned.

Enemy Actions - The stunned Goon shoots Inshubur from point-blank with his Machine Pistol. She dives out of the way with her Luck. Then the nearby Bruiser opens fire with his Shotgun. Both shots miss, but one of the two dice rolls a "1", so he gets a reroll from Aiming, which is a hit. Inshubur is out of Luck, so I spend a Story Point to force a reroll on the shot. It's still a hit. Then the damage is enough to knock my Captain out, and probably still would be if I spend another Story Point. Her Combat Armor also fails her, so Inshubur goes down!  Rather than spend it on a long-shot, I hold on to the Story Point, in case I need it to help her during Recovery at the end of the Battle.

Slow Actions - Leonidas vaporizes the stunned Goon.

GcViib burns a hole through the head of the Bruiser that took out Inshubur.

The Kid moves south, and shoots at the Goon on the landing pad, driving him against the Flyer we want to sabotage.

Panic Test - The Goon furthest from the PCs runs away. There's no Enemy Table Edge in this scenario, so I probably could have chosen anyone, but since he'd have to move several Rounds to get into range, I figure he's still the best one to flee.

Enemy Ploy on a "1" - And I rolled it!   There is a Sniper in that tall radio tower to the South East of the landing pad.   In a previous game I rolled up a Sniper, and blasted them to bits before they got to activate. I decided then to implement a house-rule to make them more dangerous if they came up again: The sniper gets 1 free shot immediately upon being placed on the board, before the next Round starts.

Unfortunately for the bad guys, I made that rule before coming to a planet with Fog so bad every shot is at -1 if the target is 8" or more away. The sniper's shot skips off a rock near The Kid.

Image Key: Green lines are PC's movement. Purple lines are the enemies movement. Yellow lines are retreat when Stunned or random movement from Luck points being spent. Red X's mark places where people fell in battle.

Round 2: - Quick - The Kid returns fire, knocking the Sniper onto the supports between the tower and the radar beacon. Juniper moves forward and also shoots at the sniper, driving them further onto the walkway. They are double-stunned, but still in the game.

Enemy - The sniper shoots at Juniper, but she is saved by the Fog.

The Goon on the Landing Pad shoots at her as well, but only stuns her.

The other baddies advance. Most are heading towards the landing pad, but the Goon in the West circles around his hovertruck.

Slow - GcViib misses the sniper.

Leonidas stuns the Goon on the landing pad, who stumbles backwards into the open. Moreva flanks him, and finishes him off.

Panic Test - The goon in the west flees off the board.

Roll for Battle Events between Round 2 and 3 - 82 - Fog Cloud - The AeroSpace FIghter's engines start cycling up, causing the already dense air of Tiresias-3 to condense further. There's a cloud of opaque fog around the landing pad now, extending 6" from our Primary Objective. Line-Of-Sight is blocked by 2" of this, so there'll be some nasty close-quarters battle in our future.


Round 3: - Quick - The Kid puts another stun on the Sniper.

Enemy - The Sniper returns the favor. They hunt each other. The Leader and Bruiser move into the fog.

Slow - Everyone closes in on the fog cloud.

Panic Test - None.


Round 4: Quick - Moreva and Juniper enter the fog.

The Kid is right at the edge of the map, engaged in a sniper duel with the Corp Marksman on the scaffolding. If I keep shooting, he'll probably win, because he has Luck and a better equipment. However, I resolved in Turn 7 that I would never abuse the edge of the map to avoid being pushed back by stunned results. So, to stand by that conviction, the Kid runs for cover. (He was stunned, so he can't shoot if he moves, and can't move if he shoots.)

Enemy - The Bruiser moves up and stuns Juniper with his shotgun. The boss drops into a better position with cover on all sides, but can't get close enough to shoot through less than 2" of engine exhaust.

The sniper moves back into their original position, now obscured by exhaust. They couldn't line up a shot, so I have them shift far enough into the fog for protection.

Slow - Leonidas dashes into the exhaust. I'm gambling a bit on if I can roll at least a single "1" on initiative next turn. If I don't, he'll be burning his Luck.

Panic Test - None

Roll for Battle Events between Round 4 and 5:  "Snap shot: Select a figure in your crew. They may fire a weapon immediately. If the weapon is a Pistol, it Hits automatically, otherwise roll to Hit normally."

I choose Juniper because she has a cool pistol built-in to her cyberhand that I almost never get to use (because a gun built into a cyberhand has half normal range, and her Plasma Rifle usually crisps people from much further out). It's a machine pistol with a shock attachment, and it murders this Bruiser quite nicely.


Round 5: - Quick - I only get 1 good Initiative die this turn, and it's a 2, so it has to be Moreva (or no shot at all). She rushes up the ramp, and unloads hot plasma on the enemy Leader. His armor saves him, but he ends up double-stunned. His back is to rock, so he's not moved at all.

Enemy - Moreva is in the open, so the the Leader shoots her. A bullet strikes her square on, but he's saved by her Combat Armor. It's a good thing the Leader was stunned, because if he'd been able to Aim his second shot might have hit as well.

The sniper moves to the edge of the tower, sticking just far enough out of the exhaust to get a shot at The Kid. They roll a "1", and can't Aim this turn because they moved.

Slow - The Kid returns fire, and stuns the sniper. This pushes them enough to fall. Jumping down 3" would be a +0 damage hit, per the movement rules. I can't seem to find other falling rules, so I just go with that for now.  I roll low, so the sniper only ends up double-stunned.

Leonidas charges the enemy Leader and tries out his Glare Sword. Leon wins the fight, but the Leader rolls a "6".  Leo then rolls low damage, and the baddie rolls high. Thankfully, Leonidas' armor saves him and they are both stunned.

The fog and the placement of my other characters prevent either GcViib or Juniper from getting into a position to shoot.

Panic Test - Nope. These badasses fight on.

Round 6: - Quick - Leonidas opens up on the villain Leader, giving him a second stun.

The Kid moves and misses the sniper.

Enemy -  The leader double-stuns Leonidas. That was close.

The sniper misses The Kid because of the planet-wide Fog.

Slow - Moreva climbs back up on top of the fuel tank and fries the enemy Leader. Then she notices the flammable labels on the thing she's standing on, looks at the smoking Plasma Rifle in her hands, and counts her lucky stars.

Juniper's not Savvy enough to worth the sabotage effort, so she Dashes through the fog to try to flank the sniper next turn.

GcViib heads up onto the platform and gets into position for next Round's sabotage.

Panic Test - None, technically, because the sniper is immune to morale...

Round 7 - ...but since the next Round starts with only the sniper on the map, they automatically escape per the special rule in the Ploy write-up.

Since the Mission ends at the start of Round 7, I don't trigger the scenario-specific enemy reinforcements at the End of Rounds 8 and 12.

Yellow lines are paths of retreat, whether that's 1" of knockback from a Stun, 1d6" of random movement from a Luck spend, or the path off the edge of the board from a badguy failing a Panic test.

Analysis: -  That fight was a lot more challenging than I thought it was going to be! With mostly short-range weapons on the opposition, I expected to just plasma-burn through their ranks in short order.  That's "action economy" for you: losing a PC in Round 1 had a lot of ripple effects, and made every Round thereafter that much harder. Inshubur is my fastest character in terms of both Speed and Reactions, so I'd planned to have her race to the middle of the map and claim the Objective before things got too hot. Instead, she took a dirt nap in Turn 1.

I really enjoyed how this battle played out quite differently from the typical Mission. Having the enemy scattered about and shooting immediately, instead of tightly clustered and creeping up slowly, was pretty interesting. The two layers of Fog (a planet-wide fog that penalized all shots beyond 8", and a localized-fog that blocked all shots beyond 2" in the vicinity of my primary objective) really made me have to get up-close and personal. The only part where I didn't push in close was the long-range sniper match on the far Eastern flank, and that ended inconclusively as a result. If not for the fog, though, I would have been able to aim 2 or 3 Plasma Rifles at that sniper's tower, which probably would have wrapped that part up in a hurry.


Post-Battle:

4.1 Resolve Rival Status: - No, I rolled a 2. I'm happy with that, as I don't think a bunch of pistol-packing Goons would be much of a threat in a more typical deployment/scenario. They just don't have the range to be a serious threat in a normal mission, at least not against my team with all their plasma-rifles.

4.2 Resolve Patron Status: - N/A

4.3 Determine Quest Progress: - N/A

4.4 Get Paid and Benefits of Success: + 5 credits.

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.

4.5 Battlefield Finds: -  Vital Info: I can turn this in for an automatic Corporate Patron on this world. Turns out AbsuCorp wasn't going to use those missiles on me, but on some other corporation. If I bring them Q'narr's targeting data and plans, his planned target will look on me favorably. I cash it in immediately, and roll up the new Patron just for fun. They have the usual Corporation rules of +1 on Danger Pay, and increased chance of jobs having Conditions. Their recurring benefit is "Connections" which means they pay in rumors. I name them Caduceus MultiMedia. One of their journalists is currently working on a hard-hitting exposé about Q'narr and AbsuCorp.


4.6 Check for Invasion!: - I don't have to roll this Turn, since these enemies aren't an Invasion Threat. That's good, since there have been rumors of war that would add +2 to any such roll on this planet.

4.7 Gather the Loot: -  The first roll gets me a Hunting Rifle and a Military Rifle, both Damaged. I get a second roll on the Loot table as specified by the Story Track's rewards section, and this rolls up a Unity Battle Sight, which is far more useful.

4.8 Determine Injuries and Recovery: -  I roll a 90, so it turns out Inshubur was merely knocked unconscious, with no lasting injuries.  H'Xex is envious, since he's still in Sick Bay from last Turn.

4.9 Experience and Character Upgrades:  G.0 H.0 I.1 J.4 K.4 L.3 M.3   - First Kill: - J    Rookie: K

The Kid is not happy about that sniper getting away, so they practice long-range shots in the fog. XP spent to bring Combat Skill to +3.

Leonidas raises Reactions to 2.

4.10 Invest in Advanced Training: -  Juniper uses her ex-Enforcer contacts to get enrolled in night classes at the local Academy, hits the books, and learns Security Training. (Total cost, including application, is 2 Credits, and 8 XP, and an Instruction Book.)  This will give us +1 on Seize The Initiative in the future, which I note would have been huge this Mission.

4.11 Purchase Items: - None

4.12 Campaign Event: - You renegotiate some old debts. (If you currently owe money, reduce your debt by 1D6+1 credits. If you owe nothing, earn 2 credits for being prudent with your money.)

Well, I'd just typed the meaningless phrase "Juniper uses her ex-Enforcer contacts" as how she arranged for her Security Training, and then the very next die roll recouped the costs of that Training. So yeah, some sort of favor called in by her Mentor/Partner from back during her old Enforcer days. I love it when story-dressing and randomized mechanics cooperate like that.

4.13 Character Event: - Leonidas discovers he likes the local cuisine, and gains an XP. I just hope he didn't eat H'Xex's delivery order -- a K'Erin's stomach is teflon-coated.

4.14 Check for Galactic War Progress: - N/A

4.15 Tick Story Clock: -  Set the Clock to 5 Ticks.  Based on that, I expect the next Story Event to be around Turn 19. Not that I'm complaining, as I enjoy the game quite a bit, but I hadn't realized when starting this just how long your Campaign has to run to get all the way through the Story Track.  I was planning on running this for about 20 Missions, but the Story Track will still be rolling strong at that point, so I'll probably keep going until it's done.

Planetary Travel and Turn 11 (5 Parsecs From Home)

This 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:

1. Planet-Wide Fog - All shots beyond 8" are -1 to Hit.
2. 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.

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)

 

Campaign Turn 9 (Five Parsecs From Home)

This is a step-by-step breakdown of the ninth Campaign Turn and Mission in my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. 

This Turn my Crew is up against Rivals who happen to be Cultists. The cultists get a ton of reinforcements during the battle events, and it's a pretty epic conflict.

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:
1.1 Flee Invasion: - n/a

1.2 Decide Whether to Travel: - n/a

1.3 Starship Travel Event: - n/a

1.4 New World Arrival Steps: - n/a

1.5 Gain 1 story point if it's turn 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, etc. -  Yes! Back up to 7 Story Points.

2.1 Upkeep and Ship Repairs: -
Crew Upkeep - 2    Ship Debt - 0    Ship Repairs - 3    Medical Care - 0

2.2 Assign and Resolve Crew Tasks: -

• Find a Patron -     
• Train -     
• Trade - H, K    
• Recruit -    
• Explore - I, L    
• Track -    
• Repair Your Kit - M    
• Decoy - G, J

Noteworthy results from Tasks: -

H trades for an instruction manual. (Read for +1 XP. Single use.)  

K trades for a Beam Pistol. It's nasty up close.

I spends time talking to a tech fanatic, they mostly geek out about the Strange Brain of the Skulker, and accomplish nothing.

M fixes the Camo Cloak.

We're a little worried that all these Rivals we've accumulated will come looking for us, So G & J both cover our tracks. G by being spotted in public, J by spread false rumors (about our mission) with her many contacts.


2.3 Determine Job Offers: - We're trying for the Bail Bonds job on the Cultists that was offered last turn.

2.4 Assign Equipment: - Kid gets the Beam Pistol and the Camo Cloak.  H'Xex gets the new suit of Combat Armor.

2.5 Resolve Rumors: - Quest not yet triggered, we just have that one tip from a contact.

2.6 Choose Your Battle -  So we were going after this mission that Menrva Bail Bonds offered to Juniper. Supposed to raid a Cult. Moreva's real nervous about it, because she used to be in a Cult. This same Cult. The Radiant Quiver of Resheph. Not this branch compound, her sect of it was on another planet, but the same general kind of abusive bastards. Bagging one of their leaders and turning him over to justice sounds good, but she's also scared. We all talk about it. We decide to do a little recon on the group. As we're acting real casual, watching from down the street, a cultist drives by and does a double-take. He's from the other compound, and recognizes Moreva from years ago. Suddenly all hell breaks loose.

(Here's what happened mechanically to justify that tale. I roll up the Enemy when I'm handing out the jobs, as that makes it more interesting and easier to work up a narrative if you know what the opposition is before hand. So, we had an open multi-turn job offer that involved cultists. Last turn's character event revealed that an old Rival of Moreva's returns to trouble her. As is the standard for Unknown Rivals,  I roll twice and get to pick which one I want. I rolled Cultists and Unity Grunts, and decided that Cultists implied the more interesting backstory for the character. I didn't really expect it to come up any time soon, cause in the first 8 Turns none of my Rivals have shown up. I even assigned 2 PCs to Decoy Actions this turn to reduce the chance of Rival interference. But wouldn't you know it, I rolled low enough to trigger a rival rumble, and then rolled a d4 to find out which Rival group it was and got a "4" so the most recent one on the list. And that just bloomed into a little story. It does mean there's a decent chance I'll be running back-to-back Cultist missions this turn and next, which is a little weird, but not really a problem.)

Job Description:
 Menrva Bail Bonds calls us up with a Bounty on a Cultist. We get tangled up in some ancillary business, because Moreva has history with these jerks. Rival trouble.

Battle:

Deployment Conditions:  - none

Notable Sights:  - nothing special

Objective: - Just try to hold the field. Rival Mission Circumstances: Brought Friends  (Add one additional enemy figure. If you flee from the battle before 4 rounds are up, a random crew member will lose a random item of equipment carried in your flight.)

Enemy: Criminal Elements Subtype: Cultists 

Numbers+2 Panic 1 Speed 4" Combat Skill +0  Tou3 AI-A Weap1A 

"Fringe Space is full of odd, para-religious groups, congregating around this or that principle. They are often heavily armed, and up to no good."

Intrigue: Roll 2D6 and add +1 if you killed a Lieutenant and/or Unique Individual. On a 9+, you obtain a Quest Rumor.

7 Cultists total: 

4 regulars with Colony Rifle and Blade, 

2 specialists with Power Claw, 

1 leader with Colony Rifle and Blade,

Starting Positions - Mission 8

Deploy:  We're casually observing the cult from down the street, when they spot Moreva. So I decided to make Moreva was in Line-of-Sight to the enemy, and I didn't put any of my characters up on rooftops. This was partly for obvious story reasons, but mostly because 2 of the enemy only have Power Claws, and it seemed kinda cheaty to put my entire team up on rooftops where those melee-only enemies would have to run past us to the fire escape, then 3" or 4" up a ladder, and then backtracking across the roof. So instead, Moreva and Inshubur are near the beat-up old car we arrived in, Juniper is across the street getting a closer look, the Kid is out playing in traffic, and Leonidas and H'Xex are laying low in the alleyway.

Neutral Car House Rules: In a couple of my previous battles, I had fun placing neutral cars at roads on the edges of the map, and having them drive a random distance each turn.  I'll be doing the same this time. I set up their speed in Roll20 as moving [[1d8!+1d4]] inches per turn. A d8 and a d4 together give a nice flat-topped bell curve, but exclamation mark in the die code means that if it rolls a natural 8 it adds another 1d8 to the movement. So the cars usually going a little faster than the humans, but have the potential to suddenly accelerate to much faster. If they would hit something, they brake suddenly and the person they'd hit takes a stun. They follow their lane, but if they have turning options they determine it randomly. If a car goes off a map edge it re-enters from a random lane. On this particular map there are 3 main lanes entering the map (1 southbound, 2 northbound) and two kind of inconvenient or uninteresting lanes (eastbound alleyway and eastbound half-off-the-map). So I numbered them "1-2", "3-4", "5-6", "7" and "8" and will roll a d8 each time. Initial car placement roll was a 6 and a 3.  I'll move cars at the start of Enemy actions, for the maximum benefit to the NPCs and detriment of my crew. (Because the enemies will be able to rely on the cars for cover far better than I can.

Seize The Initiative was successful for once! Can't remember the last time that happened. M opens fire first, but misses with all her plasma. The Kid shoots a rooftop cultist, but only stuns them. L & I advance into cover. J just stays put. She's not got LOS to anyone, but if she moves she'll leave herself open to the Cultists. I want H to use his jump belt to the building roofs, but these are more than one story, so it's probably above the 3" height allowance. Instead I move him on to the fire escape in the alleyway, so next Round he'll get to the roof.

Round 1: - Inshubur and The Kid can act in the Quick Phase.  I takes careful Aim through the Unity Battle Sight on her Plasma Rifle, and a cultist experiences the Rapture.  K Aims at the cultist he'd shot before, and manages to stun her a second time and drive her back far enough from the edge that he can't see her.

The cars move 8" and 7" inches. None of the cultists have range to any of the PCs (the ones who did are either dead or knocked back and stunned), so the Cult Leader and one other cultist Dash out into the street to get closer. They keep the cars in front of them as a moving shield. I don't think the civilian drivers appreciate it.

The double-stunned cultist on the roof runs down the staircase to get in cover.  The other cultist on a roof makes a running jump from one roof to the next building.

The Power Claw specialists move forward, taking cover behind a tree and mailbox.

L moves forward and gets an angle where he can stun the cultist behind the cars, and slow their advance.

M takes out the closer of the two Power Claw wielders.

J dashes forward and shelters behind the big metal base of a street lamp.

Leaping from the fire escape, H uses his Jump Belt to reach the roof of another building.

All the Cultists pass their Morale test.

Round 2: - Inshubur plasma-boils the other Power Claw cultist, and Leonidas kills the person he'd just stunned.

The car in the left lane slows down, the driver braking hard at the sight of gunfire up ahead. The car in the right lane continues forward at roughly the same velocity as before, because its view of the trouble was blocked by the first car. (That's how I interpret rolls of 5" and 8".)

The cult leader rushes to take cover behind the concrete barrier between lanes, and pegs Leonidas with his military rifle. Damage roll is a 6, so I spend a story point. The shot punches through the hood of the car he's sheltering behind, and he's hit by shrapnel instead of the slug, so he's merely stunned. (Rerolled damage is a "1".)

The cultist on the roof tries shooting Leonidas as well, but misses. The other other remaining cultist moves into better cover behind a mailbox, and shakes off their stun.

H misses the Cult leader. M misses the cultist. Juniper advances and ducks in to a small alleyway, but doesn't have a clear shot at anyone.
The cultist fail the panic test, so the one on the roof slinks away.

Mission 8 Battle Map. This was the biggest, craziest battle thus far.

Green lines on the map are the movements of my crew, with the shade of green just indicating which person it is for when their paths overlap. Blue lines are H'Xex using his Jump Belt, and it switches to green when he actually walks. Purple lines are neutral cars, essentially just moving cover. Red lines are the bad guys moving around. The two orange segments on the red path in the right hand side of the map are running jumps from one roof to the next. The pink lines at the bottom are all the reinforcements that arrive on the map later in the Mission.

Battle Event between Round 2 and 3 -  Enemy Reinforcements. Another cultist rifle and cultist power claw coming running up the road. If the other one hadn't just bailed, this would get interesting.

Hmmm.... the rules say all the end of turn stuff can be done in whatever order you want, so I swap the order of them. Reinforcements first, then panic failure. So the new Claw runs away, as his weapon wouldn't get into range anytime soon anyway. Doing it this way makes the fight a tiny bit harder on myself.

Round 3: - The Kid moves out into the open, eager to end this. He burns a laser vent in the cult leader's head. Inshubur advances a few feet and takes cover behing a concrete bollard.

The driver who had slowed down realizes most of the fighting is behind him now, so he floors it.  The cars move ahead 9" and 7".

Cultist reinforcement advances into cover, and shoots at H but misses. The other cultist on the ground moves, and shoots at Juniper. J's luck saves her. It's a classic "cat scare" in the narrow alley, but she has to head in deeper to make sure it's not a cultist sneaking up on her.

Roof cultist makes a running jump to the next section, then fires wild and wide. Bullets ricochet off the concrete near the Kid.
Moreva's plasma fire ignites the cultist that shot at Juniper.  

Leonidas gets his wits back about him, and ducks behind the car.

H'Xex jumps down into cover behind a holobillboard, and fires ineffectually at the new cultist.

One failed panic test, so though can't seem to hit H'Xex, it is enough to make them run away.

Round 4: -  Inshubur sits tight, ready for snap fire if the enemy shows herself.
Both cars slow down, moving 4" and 5". I think maybe they're worried Inshubur or The Kid are about to run out in front of them.

Cultist runs forward, and jumps down a floor to the lower roof. Dropping more than 1" ends her turn. She's far enough in from the edge that nobody on the ground can see or shoot her.

Most of my team huddles behind the divider, and talks about what to do. Juniper heads toward the fire escape in the alleyway. H'Xex gets up high enough to see the cultist, but not close enough for his shotgun to accomplish anything.
There's no panic test this round. This cultist is prepared to die on this hunt.

Battle Event between Round 4 and 5: Possible Reinforcements: "Place 3 markers evenly spaced along the opposing battlefield edge. At the start of the Enemy Actions phase next round, select a random marker, and roll 1D6. On a 5-6, a new basic enemy figure is placed on the marker, otherwise it is removed. Roll for one marker per round until they are all gone. If a crew member moves within 3” of a marker, it is removed instantly."

Round 5: - K and I are ready to snapfire.

Both cars move off the map, so I roll to replace them. I roll a 1 and a 5, so one southbound and one northbound.

Roof Cultist moves forward, but doesn't quite have enough movement to get to the edge where they'd have Line Of Sight to Juniper. The smartest move would be to stay in cover, but they have Aggressive AI and are within 12", so they leave cover to get closer.

Reinforcements: Another cultist shows up in the middle of the board's southern edge. They take cover behind the median, and fail to hit H'Xex.

Since there's no target in range, K and I dash across the road instead. M and L maneuver in cover.

H jumps down into cover as well, and misses with the new cultist with his shotgun.

Juniper climbs the fire escape, and vaporizes at the cultist in the open.


Round 6: - I have lots of quick actions, but no enemies on the map. H, I, J and K advance in cover.

The new cars are moving much faster than the old ones. 10" south and 18" north, thanks to the exploding d8!"

A second new Cultist shows up to reinforce the first one. Both get in cover and fire shots past H'Xex's head.

H'Xex jumpbelts forward, swinging his his Shatter Axe. He gets to roll 2 dice, and choose the better roll. Both dice are natural 1's, augmented to 5's by his Combat Skill of +2 and the bonus for a Melee weapon. The cultist also has a Melee weapon, so their base 3 on the die is also augmented up to 5. On a tie, both sides take 1 Hit, and for rolling a natural "1", H will take a second hit. H gets yet another natural "1" on his damage, but the Shatter Axe has a high damage rating so he kills anyway. Both of the hits on him are low rolls as well, so he ends up double-stunned but still kicking.

Out of range, Leonidas and Moreva use a Dash to get closer.

The cultist does not panic.


Round 7: -  K and I Dash for cover.

Both cars slow down a bit, as their drivers try to figure what's going on around them. 4" and 8".

All three reinforcement rolls have been 5+, and the last  possible cultist steps out of a building in the southeast corner of the map.

The other Cultist moves forward and fires a slug at H'Xex. He's in the open, less than 6", so it's a hit on a 3+. The damage roll ends up being just a "1", but as he's got stuns on him already, that would be enough to take him out. I spend his Luck point, and he avoids the KO and bounces 2" southeast. That's basically scrambling into cover behind a concrete bollard. If he's only going to bounce 2", that's the probably the best direction, so it really is Luck.

The final cultist reinforcement moves out into the street, and joins in the "lets all shoot at H'Xex" plan. They roll a "1" on the attack, so he doesn't even get stunned.
M. J, and L move up. L can't shoot because M is blocking his LOS. J's just out of range. M lines up a shot, but just ends up melting the streetlight next to the cultist.

Since he's stunned, H'Xex isn't required to charge into Melee (thank you Ivan at Nordic Weasel for the clarification on how stunned K'Erin heroes work). He shotguns the cultist closest to him, and shrugs off 1 of his two stuns.


Round 8: A good initiative roll helps a lot here. Moreva adjusts her aim and obliterates the closer cultist. Inshubur takes cover behind the mailbox, and blasts the final cultist.

We hold the field! It cost us Story Points and Luck a plenty, but no PCs were KO'd this time.

Analysis:

That was a crazy battle! All those reinforcement waves made it epic, long and unpredictable.  It was great! 10 cultist corpses, and 2 escaped enemies due to understandable panic. Had all 12 of them been on the board at the beginning I probably would have lost the fight.

I will say though that enemies without ranged attacks are kind of wasted. Maybe it's the maps I'm using, but it seems like that's always going to be the case. 3 of 12 adversaries were armed only with a Power Claw, and while that's a highly damaging weapon, it only matters if they can get in close, which none of them did. Also, per the rules, even Aggressive enemies like these aren't supposed to try to initiate a brawl if their Combat Skill is lower than the target PCs. With their CS of +0, there's a point in the mid-campaign where they may not ever have any legal brawling targets. It only takes 2 or 3 missions to get your entire team up to CS +1. Also, as experienced by the cultist on the roof in Round 5, things get a little awkward now that you can't Dash into Melee. You end up in situations were an enemy can technically reach you, but can't brawl you if they do, and that's a little weird that they end up moving less than their Dash distance, but stop just short of you entirely lined up for your point-blank bust-a-cap that can't miss. In second edition, moving into melee was done at running speed if I remember correctly, so it didn't really have this problem. I wonder why he changed it for 3rd?

Possible House-Rule to Fix it: Enemies with just a melee weapon like a PowerClaw probably need a weak pistol added to their armament to help when they're not quite in range, and when they are out-CS'ed. 

About Cars - I am really enjoying the "mobile terrain" I've introduced with the neutral cars, as it really helps keep big open roadways from being boring sniper fests. Having the cars move right before the enemies does a good job of making sure the baddies can take advantage of it and the random movement amount keeps the player from planning too far ahead. That's all great. Having battles on city streets though does make me wonder about how long it takes the local police to respond to laserfire. Maybe some third-party Enforcers ought to show up if the battle goes too long? I'm in danger of making this too complex if I lean into realism. It is a tabletop miniatures game after all, not high-simulationist gritty RPG.


Post-Battle:

4.1 Resolve Rival Status: -  They've had enough! I broke their spirit, and can remove them from my Rival list. Moreva won't be troubled by these jerks again.

4.2 Resolve Patron Status: - n/a - We still have one turn to go after the actual Bail Bonds Patron Mission.

4.3 Determine Quest Progress: - n/a

4.4 Get Paid and Benefits of Success: - Lots of modifiers here.

Criminal Elements:  When setting up, roll 1D6. If the score is 1-3, that many bonus credits will be paid out as a bounty if you.  Bounty = YES, +2 Credits if we Hold the Field after the battle.

Intrigue: Roll 2D6 and add +1 if you killed a Lieutenant and/or Unique Individual. On a 9+, you obtain a Quest Rumor.  

Rival Battle: If you flee from the battle before 4 rounds are up, a random crew member will lose a random item of equipment carried in your flight.

I rolled a "1" for the pay, and a "7" on the intrigue, so it's a total of just 3 Credits in payment after all those modifiers.



4.5 Battlefield Finds: -  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.

4.6 Check for Invasion!: - n/a

4.7 Gather the Loot: -  2 doses of the consumable called "Still". I've had 1 dose for several Turns, and always forget to use it. Now I can forget 3 times as much. Yay!

4.8 Determine Injuries and Recovery: - n/a

4.9 Experience and Character Upgrades:  G.0 H.3 I.4 J.3 K.4 L.3 M.3   - First Kill: - I     Rookie: K

H'Xex trains Combat Skill from 2 to 3.

Inshubur trains Speed from 5 to 6.


4.10 Invest in Advanced Training: - not yet

4.11 Purchase Items: - none

4.12 Campaign Event: - You’ve managed to settle some old “business”. If you have any, you may remove one Rival of your choice.   Inshubur manages to set things straight with the E'Rex K'Gal and end the enmity.  This eliminates the chance of them trying to invade the planet, so that's pretty great.

4.13 Character Event: - Randomly selected Inshubur, and got: "You’ve made a real personal breakthrough. Select one ability score that has not been increased from its starting value when the character entered the campaign. It increases by +1 immediately."  Because I just spent her XP on Speed, there was only 1 ability score she hadn't raised during the campaign: Savvy. So that goes up from her starting value of 1 to 2. Clearly, the Strange Brain has continued to open up new neuronal pathways, and expanded her consciousness.

4.14 Check for Galactic War Progress: - n/a

4.15 Tick Story Clock: - 0 (so in Turn 10 we have the second Story Track adventure)

 

Mission 7 (Five Parsecs From Home)

Step-by-step breakdown of the seventh Mission in my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. 

 This Turn my Crew is up against a band of K'Erin Outlaws as we close in on the final stage of our Quest for "The Strange Brain of the Skulker".

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:
. Flee Invasion: - n/a
. Decide Whether to Travel: - not yet
. Starship Travel Event: - n/a
. New World Arrival Steps: -n/a
. Gain 1 story point if it's turn 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, etc. - Not this Turn

. Upkeep and Ship Repairs: - Crew Upkeep -2
    Ship Debt -0
    Ship Repairs -0
    Medical Care -0

. Assign and Resolve Crew Tasks: -
    Train -J
    Trade -H,K
    Explore -I,L
    Repair Your Kit -M
    Decoy - G

Noteworthy results from Tasks: - Juniper gains her first point of Luck.  H'Xex trades for Bipod.  Kid trades for Stim-pack. Arms Dealer takes Leonidas money but just gives him a Military Rifle that's not as good as his Plasma Gun. Inshubur trades for Basic Supplies.


. Determine Job Offers: - Going after the big Quest Finale. The Strange Brain of the Skulker shall be ours!

. Assign Equipment: - H'Xex gets Concealed Blade. Leonidas gets Seeker sight. Juniper gets Bipod.

. Resolve Rumors: - n/a



 
Battle:

Deployment Conditions:  - Toxic environment: Whenever a combatant is Stunned, roll 1D6+Savvy skill (0 for enemies). Failure to roll a 4+ becomes a casualty.

Criminal Element: When setting up, roll 1D6. If the score is 1-3, that many bonus credits will be paid out if you Hold the Field after the battle. Career criminals also tend to get even.

Notable Sights:  - Really shiny bits: Gain 2 credits. 13" NW of center.

Objective: - Straight-up Fight.


Enemy Type: - Criminal Elements   Subtype: K'Erin Outlaws

Very similar to the gang we fought in Turn 5, but somewhat better Equipped.

Numbers: +1    Panic: Fearless!     Speed: 4”     Combat: +1     Tough: 4     AI: A     Weapons: 2A

4 regulars with Infantry Lasers + Blade, 1 specialists with Hand Gun & Ripper Sword ,  1 LT. w/ Infantry Laser + Blade

and one Unique Individual:  K'Erin Warrior   Sp 5"  CS +2 T5 AI A  L1  Machine Pistol, Ripper Sword.  Let's name him Warlord Girt B'Lilu.

Deploy: Because of the toxic environment, I set up the map with grody pools of chemicals, and piles of scrap, like it's a contaminated industrial junkyard.  The small piles of scrap provide cover but don't block LOS. The larger cylinders do block LOS. The horizontal sheets of corrugated steel on the map are functionally just bridges across the muck, and provide no cover at all. Toxic environment: Whenever a combatant is Stunned, roll 1D6+Savvy skill (0 for enemies). Failure to roll a 4+ becomes a casualty.

These K'Erin Outlaws are aggressive, so they start in one large cluster and want to rush me, but they also have long-range weapons so they benefit from getting a turn or two of pot shots from outside my range. So there's no clear cut best place for them to deploy. Their side of the board is sort of divided into 3 areas by the toxic pools, so I rolled a d3 to decide.  To make the Unique Individual K'Erin Warrior feel more unique and independant (and to make the battle a little more complex) I rolled his starting position separately. So the main group is in the SouthEast corner, and he's scouting in the NorthEast corner trying to flank us.

On the map above, the red arrows are the movements of the K'Erin Outlaws. The green arrows are the movements of my crew. The blue arrows are the movements of one particular crewman, H'Xex, who has a jump belt that allows him to leap right over the toxic pools and most blocking terrain obstacles. The purple arrows are for some nasty critters that crawled up out of the muck between turns 4 and 5 due to a battlefield event.

Sieze the Initiative: Successful. The Kid shoots and misses, everyone else just gets into better position on the cover. H'Xex moves laterally, as I realize I might need him to go for the notable sight or to intercept the Warlord Girt B'Lilu.

Round 1: - K aims and still misses Warlord Girt B'Lilu.

The Warlord isn't in range of his pistol, so he dashes forward, advancing into cover. The Ripper Sword Specialist is way out of range, so Dashes forward as well. The others split up and spread out, as moving in a clump would cause them to block each other's line of fire. 4 of 5 shots miss, but one of lasers Juniper and she has to spend her Luck to survive. Since she spent Luck she's not Stunned, so she doesn't test for the toxic environment.

Leonidas shoots the Warlord. Girt spends his Luck to survive, and dives 5" NorthWest. It does leave him out in the open, but also got them basically a full movement closer to a target, so it's both good and bad.  (Edit: I just noticed I marked this wrong when I recreated the map, above. I think the text is correct, and the red arrow at the top is in error. The arrow should have moved NW, not W followed by NE. That's what I get for playing one day, drawing the arrows on a different day then I extracted the text out of my notepad on a third day.)

Feeling vulnerable on her pile of scrap, and out of range of her own gun, J dashes forward to the LOS-blocking larger hunks of metal.  Inshubur still has Luck, so she just sits tight.

Moreva and The Kid both shoot at the Warlord. M misses. K hits but only stuns. The Warlord makes his roll to not succumb to the Toxic Environment.

H'Xex jumps to the Notable Sight, and picks it up instead of shooting as the Warlord is just outside his Shotgun's range. The Notable Sight is on some jagged scrap in the middle of the toxic pools. Officially, that has no effect, but I think Jump-Belting to it should be a little dangerous. I have him make a roll for Toxic Environment as if he'd been stunned, but with a +1 bonus to the roll since it's just me arbitrarily imposing danger for the sake of realism.  He barely survives, had I not decided before the roll to give him the +1 it would have taken him out.


Round 2: -  I've got 3 characters acting in Quick Actions phase. The Kid shoots the Warlord, giving him a second stun. Girt saves vs the Environment again. H'Xex jumps closer to him, risking being in the open to get into shotgun range. He scores two hits, one doing enough damage to kill on it own, and the other putting a third stun marker and knocks him off the edge of the map, so the Warlord is at least double-eliminated. This raises the question of what happens when a model is knocked off the edge of the map? There's no rule for it, so I'm inclined to say that you just stop your movement on the map, and resolve that I will avoid intentionally abusing that. No creeping along the edge of the map so that I can't be knocked back by stuns, for example.

The rest of the K'Erin advance, and take long-range pot shots, all of which miss. Only the ripper sword specialist dashes, which brings him into Inshubur's LOS, but her plasma shots bounce off his cover.

L and M cannot get into range without both dashing and leaving themselves out in the open, so they just sit tight. J peeks out from around the cover and kills the enemy Lieutenant.

Battle Event between Round 2 and 3 -  Ammo fault: Select a random figure in your crew. If they fired a weapon last round, it cannot be used for the rest of the battle. If they did not, select a random carried weapon, which can be fired only once this battle. This effects Moreva. She did not fire in Round 2, so I flip a coin for which of her two guns can only be used once. Her hand-gun "wins" the flip, which is a lucky break for me. as she'll only need to use it if the enemy makes it all the way to brawling range.

Round 3: - As this is a Quest Finale, the enemy are Fearless and ignore their loses.

J kills the Ripper Sword Specialist. The only surviving K'Erin in that southern group stands over the body of his fallen friend, and shoots Juniper. Despite cover and a Flak Vest, she becomes a casualty. Guess she shot the wrong K'Erin! The rest of the K'Erin shoot at Inshubur, but all of them miss.

Inshubur misses, and most of my other characters continue to sit tight in cover.  The Kid clambers out onto the scaffolding over the toxic muck.

Round 4: - My initiative roll sucks, so the K'Erin advance firing. They miss Inshubur repeatedly, but one of them can't see her because of his comrades getting in the way. I look to see if there's another possible target from where he ended up, and sure enough, there's a potential shot against where Leonidas is in cover. Two 6's later, and Leonidas is out of action.  This is starting to look bad. I've won most of my previous battles without casualty, but my poor deployment choices and the K'Erin's extreme range lasers are making this fight exciting in a way that I haven't seen since the first mission of the campaign. Sucks for my team, even if it is a lot of fun for me.

From his position on the makeshift bridge, K takes an extreme-range shot with their laser, and eliminates the K'Erin that just shot his friend Juniper.  I moves forward to get into range, taking cover behind the rocky ridge. Unfortunately, both of her shots miss. Aware of their mortality, and out of range, H stays behind the blocking terrain, and M ducks behind some as well.


Battle Event between Round 4 and 5:  Critters! Place 1D3 Vent Crawlers (p.102) in the center of the table, and move each of them 1D6” in a random direction. At the beginning of the Enemy Actions phase, they will move towards the nearest figure and attack, regardless of which side the figure is on. If you are already fighting Vent Crawlers, this is bad news, as they are of course part of the enemy brood.

After random deployment, one of the three vent crawlers is in position to go after the K'Erin, but the other two are heading towards my PCs. This was already an exciting battle, and now it just got real scary.

Round 5: -  The tension spike from the Vent Crawlers resolves very quickly. Moreva climbs back up to her prior perch on the cylinder pile, and blasts a Vent Crawler into nothingness. Inshubur also falls back to her previous cover spot, and likewise kills a Vent Crawler.

The remaining Vent Crawler is closer to the K'Erin Outlaws than to my team, so it rushes them. However, it's just a smidge too far away to get to attack them. From such close range, the lead K'Erin burns a laser-hole in its carapace. The toxic environment does the rest.

This leaves 2 K'Erin to act. One advances behind cover and shoots at Inshubur. Her Luck saves her, but she has to dive 5" to the SouthEast to survive.  The other K'Erin fires at Moreva, and misses.

H'Xex jumps over the cylinder and a toxin pool, and opens up with his shotgun, but misses with both shots.

The Kid picks his way across the makeshift bridge, but can't line up a shot.

Round 6: - Inshubur moves to where Juniper fell. She cracks off a shot at the K'Erin, but it ricochets off a piece of intervening scrap and misses. The K'Erin returns fire just as ineffectively.

The other two go after H'Xex since he's closer. The laser of the closer one fails to penetrate the cover that H'Xex is in. The second K'Erin moves wider and leaves himself out in the open to get a clearer shot. It hits, and stuns, and K'Erin fails his Savvy test vs the Toxic Environment. This time, however, I remember I have Story Points, so I spend one to reroll the Savvy test. The reroll saves him.  H'Xex does get dunked in the toxic sludge, but he manages to keep his head above the goo, and his gasmask prevents the fumes from knocking him out.

Round 7: - I get a single "1" on my Initiative roll. Crap. I plan to activate H'Xex, and then realize that he's kind of stuck. He's stunned, so he can either move or attack, not both. But as a K'Erin, if he starts his activation within charging distance he has to move to attack them. If I don't activate him, they won't charge him because his Combat Skill is higher than theirs. So instead they'd shoot him from point blank, which probably means my story point to save him was a waste.  That's potentially a painful learning experience.

Looks like my best bet is to have Moreva aim and fire at one of the baddies that's going after him. She gets a lucky hit and high damage, dropping the villain closest to H'Xex.

The next one in line runs past his fallen comrade and burns H'Xex from up close. It only stuns, but H'Xex fails his environment toxin roll. I'm tempted to double-down on the Story Points, but since it would at best be a 50% chance to leave him in the same crappy situation he was in at the start of this turn, I decide to just let him fall.

The other K'Erin fires at Moreva and misses. The Kid picks him off immediately thereafter.

Inshubur advances behind the ridge and shoots at the last K'Erin, but sadly misses.

Round 7: - Moreva goes on overwatch. Inshubur advances and fires again. She hits, but rolls low on damage. The final enemy is stunned, but makes his roll vs the toxic environment.

He fires back, but misses due to the cover of the ridge I is sheltered behind. Since he doesn't move, Moreva is unable to use her overwatch. She's up high and in cover, so I leave her there instead of moving her during the slow actions phase.

K gets back on solid ground and advances behind cover.

Round 8: -  Inshubur acts first, and kills the last enemy.


Analysis: - Quest finales are no joke! This is the longest 5 Parsecs From Home mission I've ever played, largely because the quest made the NPCs Fearless. It was also the most exciting and dangerous, due to the combination of long range weaponry, toxic environment, and the mid-battle vent-crawler ambush.

That said, if I'd remembered I had Story Points and Stars Of The Show cards in the early turns when Juniper and Leonidas were in peril, it potentially might have been a much easier battle. Still, it's good to see that the solitaire game still has the ability to punish strategic mistakes, even after my crew has accumulated lots of Armor, Luck, and Combat Skill.

Overall, this was my most exciting and enjoyable game of 5 Parsecs thus far.


Post-Battle:

4.1 Resolve Rival Status: - Career criminals tend to get even.  I add the B'Lilu Gang to my list of Rivals on this planet.  Aceso Menrva is starting to heat up.

4.2 Resolve Patron Status: - n/a

4.3 Determine Quest Progress: - Yes! I have finished the finale!

4.4 Get Paid and Benefits of Success: -  6 Credits, plus H'Xex got the Really shiny bits:  2 credits. Total of +8 credits.

4.5 Battlefield Finds: -  An infantry laser and a blade.

4.6 Check for Invasion!: - n/a

4.7 Gather the Loot: -  Damaged Camo Cloak,  Damaged Communicator,   Teach-Bot,  Unity Battle Sight.   The Sight we take off the corpse of the war lord. The teach-bot is actually The Strange Brain of the Skulker itself. The two damaged items are things Moreva found in the junkyard while ducking for cover.

4.8 Determine Injuries and Recovery: -  I need to be more mindful of my options, and not just accept situations. I forgot that I had Story Points to spend to keep J & L in the action.  I also forgot I had a Stim-Pack that could have turned a KO into a stun.  Then I forgot that I had a nano-doc that cancels a post-battle injury roll until I'd already rolled a "Death or permanent injury" result for Juniper. So I spend my "Looked Worse Than It Was" card from the "Stars of the Show" deck to save her. That's a one-time-per-Campaign card, so I need to be more mindful next time.  I then spend the Nano-Doc so that I can skip rolling at all for H'Xex. That leaves a random roll for Leonidas... and luckily, he just gets "Knocked Out, no long-term effect". So several resources are burned, but all my characters survive and recover before the next mission.

4.9 Experience and Character Upgrades:  G.0 H.5 I.3 J.1 K.4 L.1 M.3   - First Kill: - H    Rookie: K  Unique: H (for downing Warlord Girt)

H'Xex bought a point of Luck, The Kid bought a point of Speed, Moreva bought a point of Combat Skill.

4.10 Invest in Advanced Training: - none

4.11 Purchase Items: - We add a Cargo Bay to the Rhapsody of Inanna (our spaceship). This takes 15 of our 18 credits, so it's a little risky, but I really want to able to explore the universe (for purely thematic / narrative reasons), and having a way to recoup expenses when I do so seems critical to making that a viable playstyle.

4.12 Campaign Event: - An alien merchant offers a random item, but we just spent nearly everything improving our ship, so we turn him down.

4.13 Character Event: - Leonidas is working on the installation of the atmospheric regulator of the cargo module, and a pressurization blowback pops a gasket and the blast cracks 2 of his ribs. L has to spend next turn in the Sick Bay, and the ship takes 1 point of damage to its environmental system. He was already having misgivings about the notion of leaving the planet of his birth, and this just solidifies those feelings. "Maybe I'm just not meant for outer space."

4.14 Check for Galactic War Progress: - n/a

4.15 Tick Story Clock: - 2