Larger than Life (2020 version) - the included story no. 1 replay

Introduction

I play out the first of two adventures that come with the 2020 version of THW Larger than Life.

Background

I have been running some early Classic Traveller adventures in a spreadsheet.  My latest iteration I was quite happy with how it was playing (based on an RPG call 3 Dice).  But I was hankering for some tabletop action as part of the story.  I thought about creating my own rules based on my 3 Dice variant.  Did that, played a lot (more than 20) of test encounters but not entirely happy.  Thought I could give 5150: Back Alley Bright Lights (the boardgame) a go again.  I did use it a few times in early 2020 but no overarching story.  Thinking of combining with Larger than Life (LTL) and then got distracted into other things such as Five Parsecs From Home.   I then started looking at Larger than Life and was thinking that as I had some games with that previously, and Future Tales, and maybe I should give them a go.

And conveniently the 2020 version of LTL went on special as I was thinking, so got it.  I skimmed it, noted lots of differences.  Rather than go through it is detail and start an adventure after reading all the STOP boxes, I noticed it had two stories that came with the rules.  I thought I would play them through and hopefully come to terms with the rules that way 😊

Note that I may still drag out 5150: Back Alley Bright Lights to combine the LTL story framework with the 51050:BABL encounters.   It will be a 3-4 months before the latest 5150 Kickstarter delivers and may need to continue this itch in the meantime

Rules

It is the latest version of Larger than Life (released 2020).  It is very streamlined compared to previous versions and not as prescriptive on the story framework (e.g. adds in Carousing). I have gone for an SF Solar System feel (using some inspirations from Future Tales).  I do like the latest version it as it will be very easy to combine with the upcoming 5150 New Beginnings (coming via Kickstarter).  I like the story framework of LTL and like the range of encounters in 5150 and combining thes two will be so easy.  When required, I use my own NPC generation system that is mostly that in 5150: Maiden Voyages (no longer in print or PDF).

Figures are Heroscape with the occasional Mage Knights.  The terrain is the Battlesystems Cyberpunk Core set.

The Band

I went with my own randomly generated characters, just because I have spent time creating a random character generator.  I don’t bother with People and Savvy and only one attribute for each Start and Grunt (none for the enemy except the Big Bad). Note: after playing the story I realise that one less in People or Savvy is similar (not the same) to a negative attribute. I may play with them on the NPCs next game. I find Rep and Attribute is sufficient to differentiate a character and are enough I can handle with less to look up and track.  But I understand it does make increasing Rep less balanced.  But I come from a Traveller background where you never got better at anything.   Oh, and I only use seven of the attributes (only positive ones) so I can remember them when on the tabletop!

Anyway, the band:

Roger Lin (Star), Rep 5, Quick Reflexes (Action Rep +1) and a Pistol-1.

Alijah Burch, Rep 4, Resilient (1st Out of Fight = Carry On) and an Auto-2.

Mariana Pratt, Rep 4, Crack Shot (Shooting Rep +1) and an Auto-2.

The band group picture – Roger, Alijah, Mariana

Story 1 - Win, Place or Show?

I try not to give too much away.  Don’t read past here if you ever want to play the story.   The narration is a combination of story and rules/table results leaning towards the latter.  Mainly as I was interested in learning the rules.

1. Opening Scene

Lin has to find the jockey J.T. Barnes in 6 days.  To do this requires 5 Clues.  Who is the Big Bad? Unknown!

2. Travel Scene

Roger Lin travels alone to the Lunar Base.  The time (d6=4) is Nighttime

What’d I Meet (2d6=6+1=7)?: A Femme Fatale!  Gretta

Roger and Gretta at the bar

“Well hello,” purrs Gretta. Interacting results in failure.  Roger follows Gretta outside.

Roger follows Gretta out the bar.

3. Confrontation

Roger is followed by two thugs.

Bodyguard (exotic), REP 4, BAP

Thug (Criminal), REP 4, BAP

They have the advantage. It is night so at least all are in cover at the start.

The opponents in cover for the firefight

The Bodyguard and Thug fires and misses, Roger fires back and misses, the bodyguard returns fire and hits with both shots.  Only glancing shots but enough to force Roger to duck back.

Roger ducks behind the desk.

Roger now activates and recovers.

Seeing futility in continuing, both parties leave the light (both sides failed Will to Fight).

Thugs leaving

Roger escapes down a corridor.

And not a great start: -2 IDRep (Increasing/Decreasing Rep)

4. Find Something

Roger Lin needs to find something – information on owners, jockeys etc for the Race.  He decides to bring along one band member Alijah.  (I randomly rolled a 1d6 – 1-3 both, 4- Alijah, 5 – Mariana, 6 none).

Hmm.  Well, that was a bit easy.  I rolled on the table and found the clue!

Roger and Alijah on the search for a clue.

5. Find Someone (1)

With this first piece of information uncovered, Lin needs to question some people to get more details.  I will bring along everyone, mainly for two reasons – I can see how the rules work with three, and also so they can take some bullets/laser fire for Roger J

Note: for all these “Find Someone”s I assumed I could question just the main character rather than interact with them all then “Single Out” the one of interest.  Otherwise I think it would get a bit procedural (one extra roll when I would prefer to move the story along)

It is daytime.

The entire band is going along to question people.

So there are two potential people available to question.  First up is Jockey #2 – Emilio Garcia.  Is he alone? 1 other with him.

Questioning Garcia

Wait! What? Ah, Lin figures it out (this was a lucky roll – I rolled a 1 with 1 clue so passed 1d6).  Another Clue! Total 2.

The second person is Reporter #1 - Edgar MacDonald, with 3 others.

Questioning McDonald

Failure!  McDonald is no help at all.

5. Find Someone (2)

Still not enough clues to figure it all out so will continue to question people.

Only one person is potentially available. But cannot be found.

5. Find Someone (3)

Two possible people to question with the first being Jockey #1 – Julio Valdez with 3 others.

Wait? What?  But it eludes Lin and there is nothing to be gained.

The second person cannot be found to be questioned.

5. Find Someone (4)

Roger Lin questions Owner#2 - Seymour Butz with one other.

Wait? What?  “If I can just focus…” Lin thinks. But it does not fall into place. This is becoming a bad habit 😊

The next person is Trainer #1 - Jerry Hobbs with one other person.

Questioning Hobbs

Success!  Another Clue.  Three so far.

5. Find Someone (5)

Roger Lin and the band find Bookie #1 – Mullins with one other person

Wait? What?  Once again Lin cannot figure out what Mullins may be hinting at.

Lin is fast running out of people to question.  In hindsight I should have been using Sweet Talk  more. On the Questioning Table equal d6 passing (that Lin excelled at!) and using Sweet Talk, Lin would get a clue.  But I did not want to decrease Lin’s IDRep anymore than it is currently (-2). Next time may see more use of Sweet Talk.

5. Find Someone (6)

I will question Owner #1 - Cynthia Harrison, actually the wife of the Owner.  She is with two others.

OMG, she is a Mover and is smooth. Lin actually passed more than her.  I was not expecting that!

Questioning Cynthia

Lin agrees to drinks and things elsewhere, ditching the rest of the band.

Roger and Cynthia.

He ends up doing something he regrets (and loses a clue, only has 2 now). This leads to….

5a Confrontation

I will assume they jump Roger Lin after his Cynthia catchup so he is alone. It is nighttime and there is one thug (Rep 4 with BAP)

Roget Lin faces up to the Thug.

Roger has the advantage, fires and misses, the Thug fires back on auto and misses.  Roger fires back, putting the Thug out of the fight. +1 IDRep (running total -1)

Lin questions the Thug and gets some information out of him.  A clue! (now back at three).

I have not actually questioned Gretta so will do so now but fail badly and Roger is jumped by the same Thug on the way back to his room. (yep, rolled up the same Thug).

Roger Lin meets the same Thug.

This time Roger fires and knocks the Thug Out of the Fight with his first shot.  Roger questions him but he knows nothing more.

I need to do some Carousing to maybe get some more clues.  The only way to get them is to get increasing REP and then roll against it. That will take a while so I will just do one carousing and then onto the final scene (yes, I know I don’t have enough clues).  It will give me a chance to get a handle on the Carousing rules.

5b Carousing

I choose nighttime due to the cover bonus if a firefight breaks out! And just Roger Lin for now.

There are six PEFs and I will go through them all.  All but the last were undramatic Just for reference here are the first five (using my NPC spreadsheet generator - my own tables sort of from 5150: Maiden Voyage).

PEF #1: Lia Joseph, Rep 3, Exotic and a Knife. Favourable interaction.  +1 IDRep (now at 0).

PEF #2: Abraham Riley, Rep 4, Exotic and an Auto-2. Favourable interaction.  +1 IDRep (now at 1).

PEF #3: Bailey Stokes, Rep 4, Citizen. Ignores Roger.

PEF #4: Erick Bauer, Rep 4, Criminal and a Knife. Ignores Roger.

PEF #5: Bobby King, Rep 4, Citizen and a Knife.  Not impressed. -1 ID Rep (total 0).

PEF #6:

Marissa Jordan, Rep 5, Exotic and an Auto-2.
Lee Drake, Rep 4, Exotic and a Knife.

They are not happy with Roger’s tone and take the low road…Confrontation!

Confrontation – both start in cover

Marissa and Lee have the advantage.

Marissa fires but misses with both shots, Roger fires back and Marissa is out of the fight.

Lee now charges. Roger shoots and forces Lee to duck back.

(Now I was using a QRS updated from 5050:BABL and for those rules you could fire back at all firers and all chargers.  While writing this up I see in LTL (and Maiden Voyage and Chain Reaction) you can only fire at the number of enemy characters that does not exceed your weapon fire rating.  In Roger’s case this is 1 for the pistol and so I believe Roger would not have fired at Lee.  I prefer the limitation and have updated my QRS as a reminder).

Roger has the upper hand.

Lee will still stay in the fight. Lee recovers and Roger shoots at him causing Lee to duck back again to cover.  And again Lee recovers but Roger shoots at him again, now putting him out of the fight. +2 IDRep (total +2)

And Roger is subject to an attempted robbery! Graham Mooney, Rep 3, Criminal and an Auto-2.

Attempted robbery

All in cover. Roger fires and forces Graham to duck back and Graham loses heart in the endeavour and slinks off.

6.The Final Scene

Roger takes along Alijah and Marissa. Nighttime.

We find out who is the Big Bad and why (no spoilers here so you will have to play the story yourself).

So here is Big Bad and 4 (!) minions:

Big Bad Mover, Rep 5, BAP

Bodyguard, Exotic, REP 4, BAP

Thug, Criminal, REP 4, BAP

Thug, Criminal, REP 4, BAP

Thug, Criminal, REP 3, P

The big bad face off

Procedurally -

Matchup:   Roger Vs Big Bad Mover;  Marissa Vs Bodyguard & Thug (Rep 4); Alijah Vs Thug (rep 4) & Thug (Rep 3)

Marissa fires at Bodyguard and Thug 4.  Misses with both shots (she is supposed to be a crack shot!)

Bodyguard and Thug return fire.  Thug hits with both shots from their BAP.  Marissa Ducks back.

Alijah also splits fire between the two Thugs.  His misses completely too.

Thugs fire back and hit, Alijah ducks back.

Roger is also forced to duck back.

Wow. For will to fight, All Big Bad and minions leave.  Alijah slinks away.

Roger has Defeated the Big Bad!

+3 IDRep for “defeating” XX and +1 IDRep for rescuing Barnes. (Total +6 IDRep).

Does Alijah come back? Yes but at a lower rep (LTL is different in that in most versions of THW he would not come back but LTL v3 he comes back at -1 Rep.

Verdict

Well, that was fun.  I last played similar rules with 5150:BABL boardgame about 19 months ago but quite rusty and have forgotten it all! By the end I still have not quite got a hang of confrontations as well as I would like to yet.  But nearly there.  A few more run throughs should do it.

There is another story that comes with the rules so will give it a run through next. LTL version 3 comes with some simple tabletop rules so I am tempted to run that for the next story.  Chain Reaction 2018 has a system where you roll for character action sequences individually.  I am tempted to try that too and I gave it a quick go in a test combat and liked the narrative it generated. And maybe some 5150:BABL boardgame to get my fix before the 5150 New Beginnings kickstarter.  And I have nebulous plans to use LTL to run one of the Pulp Alley campaigns I have (like the structure but the use of fluctuating multiple die types are not for me).  I have lots of other projects on the go so who knows what happens next 😀