Starting off a new 5 Parsecs From Home campaign on holiday with the newly finished sci fi dungeon tiles. Playing on Challenging difficulty – so should never have fewer than 3 opponents – with the supplement AI variable behaviours and deployments.
Also house ruling in the social events tables from WeaselTech for a bit of extra intermission flavour, and modifying the brawling so that it works more like the old Lord of the Rings SBG combat (namely, resolved at the end of the turn after everyone has done their movement and actions) to make charging in a little more viable in the face of gunfire.
Since I’ll be limited to the same sort of terrain for the first few campaign turns, I’ll be beginning with a ship-less crew of four; they’ll need to accomplished a fair few missions on the same planet before being able to bag themselves a ship. I’ll probably increase the crew and battle size at an appropriate point in the future, assuming this little band lasts long enough.
Presenting our four plucky survivors from a starship escape pod left stranded on the planet of Bangoetxia:
- Argider – adventure-seeking member of a lower megacity class (infantry laser, handgun)
- Bittor – former gang member seeking fame (blast rifle, handgun)
- Carmele – glory-hunting crew leader from a military outpost (plasma rifle, blade, screen generator)
- Dornaka – technology-obsessed former member of a peaceful, high-tec colony (laser-sighted machine pistol, military rifle)
Bangoetxia is a mining colony-turned-starport and slum with a sprawling-network of tunnels riddling the planet. The crew have no contacts – positive or negative – so will be very much starting from scratch with largely empty projects. They were able to salvage some reasonable long range firepower as they escaped their doomed vessel, but that won’t be much help in the gloomy abandoned passageways where prospective employers will surely send them.
While Bittor earned some more credits with his ‘unweighted’ dice, Argider and Dornaka found more ethically viable trades to grow the crew coffers. Carmele found a sector-wide job offer but, since there was no time limit upon it, they opted to follow up a lead for some data which could be downloaded from an inside an isolationist enclave.
The crew advanced towards their target terminal. There was no sign of the anticipated political enthusiasts, despite the interlopers’ lack of discretion. Argider spotted a glint in a nearby pile of rubbish and had a rummage, holding aloft a piece of tat he boasted would fetch a whole credit on the market.
They planned to have the ultratechnical Dornaka access the terminal, but a sudden onset of skittering revealed the possible reason for an absence of guards: a number of large gribble emerged from vents all around and descended upon the explorers. Captain Caremele unloaded her plasma rifle into one but behind her another bowled over Dornaka and ripped Argider apart.
A flash of movement betrayed the presence of some isolationists nearby, and they caught the attention of one of the beasties. It charged towards one who’d crept too near.
Using the distraction, Carmele spun round and blasted Argider’s killer while Bittor dashed for the terminal to complete their objective.
Out of the gloom came the sound of screaming and gunfire. The pair grabbed the unconscious form of Dornaka and the shiny object from Argider’s severed hand and retreated to safety.
Between the reward for the data and shiny object, and some further trading by Carmele, the crew more than doubled their credit balance. Bittor evidently held Dornaka responsible for Argider’s death, and the air between them was notably strained from that point on.
A planet-wide announcement came that all ships would be restricted from travelling offworld for the immediate future, but that didn’t affect the crew. Their focus remained upon collecting credits to finance the purchase of one of their own.
There Could Have Been Snakes 