Confronting Lunar Tensions Head On

So, Anasdiazi's Raft is in some bad shape right now. Anasdiazi, his retainer Quackmore, and the Nameless Priest of Humakt are all injured and recovering. Mataw is still slumbering from the effects of the Winter's Flask potion. Pariwan Keetslander, Puddles, Oasasya, and Trackquack the Guide are still committed to protecting the region, however, and begin to prepare for their next excursion beyond the walls of Oraskat.

Before going any further, Trackquack the Guide requests a gold crown in payment, because Pariwan Keetslander got one the last time they were all in town, and Trackquack rightly pointed out that Pariwan does nothing but get knocked out every time they wind up in a fight. Anasdiazi, in his delirium, approved this, and Trackquack pocketed his newfound riches. He then went studying with Oasasya, learning the skills of Organization, while the willowy woman learned nothing. Puddles, shaking his head at this drama, went fishing; he found a pretty decent spot; it was a nice day, the fish seem to be eager. It wasn't a bad day at all. He had a chance to catch three fish. He caught three fish for a total strength of 5, worth 1 gold crown. Oasasaya then went out bargain hunting, which turned up a Quick weapon available for  5 gold crowns, and a Luck potion for 8 gold crowns. She passed on the weapon, but bought the potion. Pariwan spent time rallying villagers to their cause; four fresh faces were willing to accompany them and protect the village.

They had not gotten very far into their day when they met a Scholar travelling on the road; she was a real jerk and treated them with disdain. Later, they approached a small family farmstead and spied some Lunar soldiers looting the family's goods. Pariwan, drawing on his knowledge from his previous life, recognized them as Auxilia rather than front-line troops, and decided that the Raft would do well to drive them off.

Our Heroes and some fresh faces

The skirmish opened with the three archers shooting at the two Lunar Auxilia behind the grain silo. Only Puddles found his mark, causing a Wound on one of the soldiers. The Lunar archer returned fire, but to no effect. The Lieutenant and his two bodyguards charged towards Pariwan and the villagers, who in turn closed the distance between them.

The end of Turn1

The opening volley by the archers in Turn two killed all three Lunars charging towards them. Nice shooting! The Lunar archer retaliated, but missed her shot. The Lieutenant and his bodyguards had no such issues, killing three villagers and Wounding Pariwan Keetslander. The Wound, however, was not fatal to him at the end of the turn. The Lunar Auxilia were unaffected by poor Morale.

The end of Turn 2, death is in the air

At the outset of Turn 3, Puddles missed the Lunar archer, who returned the shot and felled Trackquack the Guide. Pariwan Keetslander and the villager continued sparring with the Lieutenant and his bodyguards, with Pariwan taking another Wound. Oasasya then killed the Lunar archer. However, at the end of the turn, Pariwan did not yet succumb to his Wounds. The Lunar Auxilia were unaffected by poor Morale.

Turn 3 leads to archers dieing on both sides.

As Turn 4 began, Puddles moved between the farmhouse and the storage silo to take a shot at one of the bodyguards. His aim was true and the Lunar soldier dropped in his tracks. Oasasya took a shot at the other, but missed. Pariwan Keetslander sparred with the remaining bodyguard, neither of them finding a gap in the other's defenses. The villager, however, took down the Lieutenant with a lucky blow. Pariwan remained steady in the face of his Wounds. The Lunar Auxilia were unaffected by poor Morale.

Turn 4 becomes four on one

Turn 5 began with both Puddles and Oasasya shooting at the bodyguard, and both missing. Furthermore, Pariwan Keetslander and the villager were wholly unable to injure or kill him. This guy must have been some great warrior in his previous life! Pariwan still did not succumb to his Wounds. 

Pariwan vs. the Bodyguard in mortal combat!

Really? Nothing changed on Turn 5?

And then, in Turn 6, the tables suddenly turned on the Raft. Both Puddles and Oasasya missed some easy shots at the bodyguard. Parwian Keetslander fell before his might. And so too did the remaining villager as he tried to avenge the phoenic warrior's death. And now the nigh-invincible bodyguard turned his attention to the archers...

Turn 6 became a disaster! Will the archers survive?

But there was to be no worry, as the opening move of Turn 7 resulted in the bodyguard falling to Oasasya's bow. All that was left was to check on their friends and search the dead soldiers for loot.

Turn 7: Oasasya did a thing!

Trackquack the Guide looked like he might be seriously injured, but some medicinal herbs helped revive him. Pariwan Keetslander, having received two Wounds before going down, turned out to have just been knocked out. His Partial armor was going to need some repairs, though. Three of the villagers were outright dead. The villager that killed the Lieutenant, however, proved to just be knocked out. He would be joining the Raft as a Follower moving forward. Both Oasasya and Pariwan leveled up; Pariwan gained +2 Speed and Oasasya learned the Farming skill. The Raft recovered two basic weapons, a quality weapon, and a Fine suit of Partial armor, perfect to replace Pariwan's damaged one. And with that, they headed back to Oraskat to check in on their recovering friends.

One of my most consistent criticisms of the games I have played is that Pariwan Keetslander always goes down on his first contact with the enemy. This time around, he was the major melee player in the whole game! Another thing that we have not seen much of is Wounds; in this game, two of the bad guys were Wounded, but both were killed before there was a chance to test for death by Wounds. Pariwan carried two Wounds for quite a while, and never succumbed to them. Also, this particular game was not a foregone conclusion; by the end of the second turn, three of the villagers weredown, and with them, a lot of the staying power for the Raft had evaporated. There were also a long string of bad die rolls which looked like it might torpedo any chance of success they might have. In the end, though, they pulled through and removed the Border Tensions Threat entirely from Oraskat.

Five Leagues From The Borderlands and the supplements are available here.

Three Witches Vs. Pinkfluffdoodle IV

My inaugural Star Fleet Grammas game of Five Parsecs From Star Fleet went amazingly well. I decided to run the bare bones of a crew for this mission: it was Captain "Granny" Weatherwax, Commander "Nanny" Ogg, and Commander Magrat accompanied by a four-person security team with phaser rifles. The command crew all had phaser pistols. I rolled a 5 for the Mission Assignment, resulting in a Salvage Mission. In fact, I prepared for this game so long ago that the Salvage Missions supplement wasn't even available yet, and I had set it up from the Salvage Crew game instead. So, I  used the information that I had kept for the game. In this case, our intrepid explorers set down on Pinkfluffdoodle IV (one of my three generic sci-fi terrain themes) and set about resolving the Points Of Interest and Salvage.

Our Heroes

The initial set up indicated three Points Of Interest and two Salvage sites. Once I had these set up, I picked my deployment edge of the game board, made a roll, and had to deploy on a different, random board edge instead. This was not starting off well...

Set up: pink tokens are Points Of Interest, and purple tokens are Salvage.

The first turn saw a general sweeping advance into the survey area. One of the Redshirts investigated a Point Of Interest; it was revealed as a Hazard: Risk and was promptly vaporized for his efforts. His movement also triggered a Contact marker in a nearby terrain feature (shown by the blue token.) Another Redshirt managed to recover one of the Salvage markers.

You can tell it's Star Trek when a Redshirt dies in the first game turn

The second game turn involved Captain "Granny" Weatherwax moving forward to investigate the Contact marker; it turned out to be a four-alien salvage team armed mostly with carbines but also an auto rifle. As they were brandishing their weapons rather threateningly, the closest Redshirt took a shot with her phaser rifle and stunned one of them. Commander Magrat and Commander "Nanny" Ogg tried to do likewise with their phaser pistols, but both missed. On the far end of the sweep line, one Redshirt triggered another explosive Point Of Interest (a Hazard: Risk again) and was wounded for his efforts. The remaining Redshirt took a shot with her phaser rifle but missed as well.

Turn two brings an injured Redshirt and Space Octopi to the general confusion

Turn three brought a disaster. The alien salvage team returned fire, and took out Captain "Granny" Weatherwax. The Captain was down! The Away Team shot back, but only one Redshirt managed to stun an alien. There were still two of them there, slishing slowly towards the remaining Salvage marker.

Where did the Captain go?

The fourth turn saw a small firefight between the Star Fleet team and the aliens. In the end, the aliens were defeated and the exploration could continue.

Turn 4 ends with all aliens stunned and neutralized

The fifth turn saw nothing but slow advancement towards the remaining Point Of Interest and Salvage marker. It was actually a little anticlimactic after fighting the alien salvage team.

Slowly the Away Team advances into turn 5

Turn 6 was the last turn of the game, and three things happened. First, no more Contacts were triggered in the remaining two pieces of terrain. Second, the final Point of Interest was triggered by a Redshirt; it was a third Hazard: Risk and it wholly vaporized him. And third, the final Salvage marker was recovered. As there were no further terrain stands that had not been checked for Contacts, the game ended and the encounter was Fully Cleared.

Another Redshirt dies in turn 6

Captain "Granny" Weatherwax had sustained a head injury from the attack by the aliens. She will be in Sick Bay for two campaign turns recovering, and has lost .5 Reaction permanently. Each Salvage marker was worth 1 credit, and each Point Of Interest cleared (three in total!) was worth 1 Rep.

This game succeeded better than I had hoped. It really did feel like a Star Trek episode, right down to the Redshirts dying from investigating stuff. I do wish I had rolled lower for Contacts; out of 16 terrain items, I only rolled a single "1" to trigger a contact marker. On the other hand, the team lost almost half it's strength from a single Contact and three Points Of Interest. And regarding the Points Of Interest, they are an exciting, dynamic part of this kind of mission, but I managed to roll the same result three times in a row. I currently plan to run four missions on Pinkfluffdoodle IV before I move on to another planet. But don't hold me to that, I may enjoy this place so much that we spend some more time here.

My Star Fleet hack of Five Parsecs can be found here.

Five Parsecs From Home and the supplements are available here.

Interlude: Five Parsecs From Starfleet

And… in my never-ending quest to adapt the best possible rules for Star trek ground actions, I have been tinkering with the Five Parses family of inter-compatible games to see what I can make work. Now, I think I have finally got it figured out. I am using the Five Parsecs: Bug Hunt rules as the core, but adding the Encounters section from Salvage Crew, and the three new mini expansions Officer Down, Patrol Missions, and Salvage Missions.

Five Parsecs From Starfleet

Being an adaptation of “Five Parsecs From Home” for the Star Trek Universe.

Generate the characters as per Five Parsecs: Bug Hunt. These rules will also be the foundation for the various teams that accompany the characters on their missions.

Within the context of Starfleet, there are only two ranged weapons that seem omnipresent, the ubiquitous phaser and phaser rifle. Bug Hunt presumes two kinds of pistols and six variety of rifles, as well as two support weapons. To reconcile this, we can assume different people have skills with their phaser pistols and rifles. Maybe Jeff shakes a lot so he doesn't shoot as effectively or as far as Patricia; he counts as having a "colony rifle" while she has a "combat rifle." And the melee weapons are really just degrees of unarmed skill; both Spock's nerve pinch and Kirk's double-handed overhead swing could be a good "power claw" equivalents. So, for simplicity's sake, record what the character is equipped with. and simply represent it with a phaser pistol, or a phase rifle, or good old-fashioned clenched fists!  

To reflect the various duties a Star Fleet crew might be required to engage in, roll on the following table to determine the Mission Assignment:

2d6      Mission Assignment

2-3       Bug Hunt

4-9       Salvage Mission (optionally, use the old Salvage Crew instead)

9-11     Patrol Mission

12        Officer Down

Using Salvage Missions with the Bug Hunt rules:

For “story” purposes, a Salvage Job should be labelled “exploration mission.”

Create the Combat Team as described on Page 11 of Five Parsecs: Bug Hunt. During the Play out a tabletop battle phase of the Campaign Turn, generate the Encounter as described on page 6 of Salvage Missions, starting in the second section labelled Determine Opposition.

Each non-Contact Point Of Interest cleared adds +1 Rep.

Credits are earned normally

Using Salvage Crew with the Bug Hunt rules:

For “story” purposes, a Find should be labelled an “exploration mission,” and a Contract should be labelled a “security mission.”

Create the Combat Team as described on Page 11 of Five Parsecs: Bug Hunt. During the Play out a tabletop battle phase of the Campaign Turn, generate the Encounter as described on page 49 of Salvage Crew.

Each Point Of Interest cleared adds +1 Rep.

The Karyllian Stand-Off option is always used. There is no limit to the number of Enemies that can be encountered. Only Large Bugs, Haywire Robots, Vent Crawling Alien Critters, and Ripper Beasts will attack other Enemies. All others will gang up on Our Heroes.

Using Patrol Missions with the Bug Hunt rules:

Create the Combat Team as described on Page 11 of Five Parsecs: Bug Hunt. During the Play out a tabletop battle phase of the Campaign Turn, generate the Encounter as described on page 4 of Patrol Missions.

Each Patrol Mission adds +1 Rep.

Using Officer Down with the Bug Hunt rules:

An Officer Down Mission Assignment uses only the Major Characters of the Campaign. During the Play out a tabletop battle phase of the Campaign Turn, generate the Encounter as described on page 6 of Officer Down. The Major Characters are considered to be Deputized. The two local helpers described on page 5 of Officer Down are available if desired.

Each Officer Down encounter adds +2 Rep.

Five Parsecs From Home and the supplements are available here.

If you have enjoyed this rules adaptation, you may download it for free here.

Seven Against The Scorpion Queen

For this scenario, I wanted something significantly tougher for Anasdiazi's Raft to face. So, I decided that since they were down to the last point of Threat from Dark Secrets, it would be fun to make a really tough Last Stand encounter for them to fight. What if they never made it out of the ruined city before being ambushed by the mastermind of the threats to Oraskat? How can that be tied to a previous game? What if the Raft stumbled upon the empty camp of more scorpion men, only to be ambushed by them and their leader the Scorpion Queen? There would be no in-town activities as this scenario takes place immediately after the previous one: the Raft is still in the ruins, Pariwan Keetslander should have been seriously wounded but pressed his luck and is as fit as a feather. The only thing that even shows the passage of time is that this is still another campaign turn, so Mataw gains another turn of recovery and of her Winter's Flask potion.

Our Heroes: Anasdiazi, Trackquack the Guide, Quackmore, Puddles, Nameless Priest of HUmakt, Oasasya, and Pariwan Keetslander.

So: this is a Last Stand for the enemy, the Raft is being attacked, and they did not Seize The Initiative. They are facing four scorpion men and the Scorpion Queen, coming at them from five different directions. In game terms, I used the profile for the Giant Spider (page 146 of Five Leagues From The Borderlands, 2nd editon) for the scorpion men, and added +1 each to the Combat Skill, Power, Armor, and Toughness of the Scorpion Queen above that of the basic Giant Spider profile. I also decided that the various walls of the ruins would not inhibit their movement in any way.

The villains of this drama: four scorpion men led by the Scorpion Queen.

The Raft began in the center of the table, all within 3" of the center point where they have discovered the remains of the camp of the scorpion men. The Scorpion Queen was in one corner of the game area, three scorpion men were in the other corners, and the last scorpion man was at the center of a randomly determined board edge.

Deployment

The opening moves of the game involved the archers shooting at the closest scorpion man to no good effect, while Anasdiazi, Quackmore, and Pariwan Keetslander moved towards their foe moving through the spinxes near the pyramid. The Nameless Priest of Humakt hung back with the archers to protect them in case any of the scorpion folk got too close.

The end of Turn1

The archers then loosed another volley at the approaching monster, this time they each found their mark and it showed signs of great injury. Trying to kill the beast for good, the Nameless Priest of Humakt cast Sparrow's Flight  on Puddles, but the next arrow bounced harmlessly off the scorpion man's leathery carapace. Pariwan Keetslander charged the scorpion man approaching between the sphinxes, and while he fought hard, he was struck down by the beast of Chaos. To his credit, he did slow the advance of the scorpion man, allowing time for Anasdiazi and Quackmore to regroup.

The end of Turn 2. One Hero has gone down already!

The third turn saw the dispatch of the nearly-dead scorpion man at the bow of Puddles, another advancing monster taking a wound from Oasaya, and Anasdiazi and Quackmore both inflicting injury upon the beast that had so recently dispatched Pariwan Keetslander. And the other scorpion folk continued their relentless advance.

The end of Turn 3: one down, four to go

Turn four saw Anasdiazi and Quackmore dispatching the beast they were fighting, after it had pushed them back towards their friends. The archers panicked in the face of the advancing enemy and all missed their shots. The Nameless Priest of Humakt tried his best to hurt one of the encroaching monsters, but caused no harm and was pushed back closer to his wards. And, as the creatures scuttled closer, they were slowly encircling the archer group.

The end of Turn 4: the beasts draw near, very near

In Turn Five. concentrated fire from the archers at the scorpion man that Oasasya had previously injured brought the beast down. Puddles cast Walk The Wind to put some distance between himself and the beast before shooting at it. The Nameless Priest of Humakt sought to slay the other monster drawing near, but succeeded in only losing ground to it's advance. Anasdiazi and Quackmore rushed to intercept the Scorpion Queen before she reached the rest of the Raft.

Turn 5 ends with the Raft losing ground

Turn Six was a bit of a turning point, where things went from just looking bad to actually being bad. Although Puddles and Oasasya succeeded in causing some harm to the advancing scorpion man, it in turn succeeded in removing the Nameless Priest of Humakt as a speedbump. Anasdiazi and Quackmore attacked the Scorpion Queen, but she was mighty and forced them back.

Turn Six: five against the Scorpion Queen

Then, in Turn Seven, the archers brought down the remaining scorpion man, leaving only the Scorpion Queen herself to face Anasdiazi and Quackmore. And while they fought hard, they again lost ground to her might.

Anasdizai and Quackmore versus the Scorpion Queen!

The end of Turn Seven, with retreating archers

Turn Eight brought disaster! Although Puddles succeeded in landing a telling shot against the Scorpion Queen, neither Oasasya nor Trackquack the Guide found their mark. She, in turn, felled Quackmore, Anasdiazi's faithful retainer. Anasdiazi was alone and face to face with the Scorpion Queen.

Turn 8 ends badly for the Raft

Now, in Turn Nine, it continued poorly for the Raft. The archers were unable to hurt the Scorpion Queen, and she continued to push back Anasdiazi towards their position in the sphinxes.

Turn 9 continues badly

Turn Ten was disastrous for the Raft. Although both Puddles and Oasasya caused harm to the Scorpion Queen, she was able to dispatch Anasdiazi with little effort. And now the archers had her undivided attention.

Turn 10 ends with the Scorpion Queen hunting the archers

Turn Eleven started out looking really grim. Puddles missed his shot. Oasasya missed his shot. The Scorpion Queen was in position to strike at Trackquack the Guide. And then he took his shot... he hit! And he found a soft spot in her hide, bringing her down! Trackquack the Guide saves the day!

Turn 11 brings victory for the Raft, but at what cost?

In the aftermath of the battle, survival looked grim. Anasdiazi was gravely wounded, but some medicinal herbs helped him; he wound up lightly wounded and would require three campaign turns of recovery. Quackmore seemed dead for all intents and purposes, however, an attempt to revive him with more medicinal herbs brought him around, and he was lightly wounded as well, requiring three campaign turns of recovery. The Nameless Priest of Humakt was also lightly injured, requiring three campaign turns of recovery time. Pariwan Keetslander was only knocked out, and back on his feet. Loot was handled a little differently than normal; monsters give a LOT of loot for killing one, and there were five of them in this game. So, I used the "attacking a camp" loot rules, as well as the loot for killing one monster. They wound up with another Small Personal Item, a Roadmap, a Fine standard weapon, a Balanced bastard sword, 32 gold crowns, and +4 Story Points. And Anasdiazi, Quackmore, and Trackquack the Guide all leveled up. Further, the last Threat point of Dark Secrets was removed from Oraskat.

Wow! 11 turns of carnage and mayhem! I wanted a scenario that would be challenging and possibly deadly, and it looks like I got it. All four melee fighters were taken out out of action, and while they all survived, it was a close call for Quackmore. Of special mention is the Nameless Priest of Humakt, while he caused no damage to any of the enemy, he stood solid the face of danger again, and again, and again, and proved to be the obstacle that allowed the continued survival of the archers. Speaking of whom, this game forced me to keep them moving, and to really think ahead about where they needed to go to stay some from the enemy onslaught. Once again they proved their worth, in spades. And speaking of worth, is Pariwan Keetslander EVER going to do anything except engage the enemy and then die? Seriously, he has already cost the warband 2 gold crowns in fees, and while it's not much, the only return Anasdiazi has gotten for his coin is a rather enthusiastic speedbump. Well, he'll get a chance to earn his keep next time, since he is the only melee member of the Raft still on his feet.

Five Leagues From The Borderlands and the supplements are available here.

Killing Chaos Cultists Like Ducks In A Barrel

Haha... well now, it's been over a month since I had visited Anasdiazi's Raft in Glorantha, and a further three weeks since I played this game until I wrote up my blog entry here. When last we left our anatine protagonists, they had just cleared a group of Broo out of a small section of a ruined city. And they know that if there were Broo in the outskirts, there would be more deeper within the city. So after returning to Oraskat, they immediately began planning their return.

But first, a day on the town. As Mataw was going to be down for a while recovering, the decision was reached to give her the Winter Flask potion. In three campaign turns, she would either awaken a true combat dynamo, or die. Pariwan Keetslander, feeling a bit put out for not being the one chosen for the potion, demanded a gold crown to stay with the Raft. Anasdiazi happily paid him. Distracted by this little drama, Anasdiazi was unable to learn anything while studying. Quackmore, suffering no such problem, learned the important skill of Organization. Puddles went fishing; he found a pretty decent spot; it was a nice day, and the fish seem to be eager. Not a bad day at all. He had a chance to catch three fish; he caught two fish for a total strength of 4, worth 1 gold crown. Oasasya found some good deals, a fine warspear for 9 gold crowns, and a fine shield for 8 gold crowns. He bought the shield for the Raft.

Of interest, they met a Beggar in town. Sharing their leftovers with him, they learned a bit about his life and how he had fallen on hard times. As they departed the town, they knew they had a new Friend, such as he was.

Our Heroes: the Nameless Priest of Humakt, Quackmore, Trackquack the Guide, Anasdiazi, Oasasya, Puddles, and Pariwan Keetslander

As they explored deeper into the ruins, they saw a tall obelisk over the shattered walls. Using that as a destination, they spied a group of Chaos Cultists preparing for a ritual at the base of the stone edifice. Anasdiazi sent the archers and the Nameless Priest Of Humakt on the left flank, while he led Quackmore and Pariwan Keetslander on the right flank.

The approach

As the Raft advanced between the buildings, the Cultists stopped their ritual to deal with the intruders. While both sides jockeyed for position and a few arrows were loosed, there was no injury or casualty in the opening phase of the encounter.

The end of Turn One, which looks a lot like the Deployment, only closer together.

Pariwan leapt ahead of Anadiazi and Quackmore, anxious to show how his new gold had increased his motivationa and loyalty. On the other side, Oasasya found his mark and killed one of the Cultists running towards the archers. The High Priest and his bodyguard attacked Pariwan Keetslander; Pariwan killed the bodyguard, but the High Priest dropped the pink mercenary.

Pariwan charges ahead!

The end of Turn Two, with casualties on both sides already

Puddles and Oasasya made short work of the two remaining Cultists coming at them. The Cultist archer tried to shoot at them, but missed by a wide margin. The High Priest managed to hold off the attacks of both Anasdiazi and Quackmore, holding his ground and rebuffing their assault.

Archers assemble!

The end of Turn Three. Where did all the Cultists go?

The archers all exchanged shots. Only Puddles had any effect, killing the Cultist bowman. The High Priest attacked, defended against, and was rebuffed by Anasdiazi and Quackmore. He determinedly held his ground.

The end of Turn Four; the cheese stands alone.

The High Priest did his best, but he fell to the combined might of Anasdiazi and Quackmore. Once again the Raft was victorious!

Victory!

In the aftermath of this skirmish, Pariwan Keetslander seemed to have a very serious injury, one that would keep him recovering for a considerable amount of time. But he had Pressed His Luck, and turned out to be perfectly okay after all. Searching the Cultists resulted in no loot. But it seemed that the High Priest was one of the ringleaders for the Dark Secrets threatening Oraskat, and that threat was reduced by two points.

This game was another quick and easy one. Even my last special scenario was too easy. So the next game is going to be something really nice... for the bad guys.

Five Leagues From The Borderlands and the supplements are available here.