5 Parsecs Chirsu campaign - week 5

Introduction

Playing a Five Parsecs From Home 1st edition campaign.  Starting with one party member.  No aliens, no psionics. 

Game

Enemies: Isolationists, Star crew, Bounty Hunters.

Came across an information broker, didn’t have much to give but got a rumour for a quest.

Also, it seems lonely and hard doing missions by yourself.  Chrisu recruits successfully – Jaan.

Chirsu and Jaan

Jaan is an ex-soldier who has been drifting through life. His skill is in tracking down patrons and his current equipment is a shotgun, rifle and purifier. His background: After growing he traded among the stars. Things going great and finally he built a space farm on a colony. All was lost because he was betrayed.

Mission

The opportunity mission is defend from The Corporation who have sent 4 Vigilantes, all with a pistol.

Select a terrain feature approximately in the middle of your half of the table. The enemy receives 1 additional figure and will try to capture this feature. Begin the game with a Scurry turn for the intruder. Each side sets up within 6"" of opposing sides.  PCs go first.

Vigilantes

I am trying out some 3x3 grid rules so the terrain is now a 3x3 grid

Battle board

       Structure | Scatter e.g. boulders, debris, single trees | Structure

                Rough e.g. marsh, craters | Structure | Linear obstacles

      Linear obstacles | LOS blocking hill or bushes | LOS blocking hill or bushes

Random rolls end up with Chirsu and Jaan defending the rough ground.

The Vigilantes split into two groups.  I roll for entry and on they come.

Vigilantes scurry onto the table

Vigilantes 1 and 2 move into the building, one manages to move without drawing reaction fire.  Chirsu fires at the other (has an auto so 2 dice) but they are only pinned.

One Vigilante pinned

The other Vigilantes (3&4) move into the rocky hill and Jaan fires at them with his shotgun but misses.

Vigilantes on the rocky outcrop

Chirsu activates and fires at the Vigilantes on the rocks.  A great result sees one KO and another suppressed.

Vigilantes on the hill – one KO, one suppressed

The Vigilantes activate.  None are in range to be able to attack (need to be in same grid square with pistols). The Vigilante on the rocky outcrop tries to rally but decides after seeing their mate KO they have had enough and leaves.  The pinned Vigilante recovers.

Chirsu gets a bead on a Vigilante when they seem distracted (fire with no reaction) and they are pinned (again).  Jaan fires at the other Vigilante for no effect.

Chrisu and Jaan fire again

The remaining Vigilantes come to a decision that with only the two of them left, it is pointless to continue and they retreat off the board (failed team morale).  Chirsu passes the mission.

All Chirsu and Jaan received from this was some worthless toys and trinkets.  Ah well.

Faction Bandits (6) rolls 3; faction Corporation (3) rolls 4; faction Cultists (5) rolls 6. No change

Chirsu leader talent lapses somewhat and is replaced with avoider (50% chance of avoiding enemy missions)

5 Parsecs Chirsu campaign – Week 3 and 4

Introduction

Playing a Five Parsecs From Home 1st edition campaign.  Starting with one party member.  No aliens, no psionics. 

Week 3

Inventory: pistol, rifle, autorifle, jump belt, nano-doc.

Enemies: Isolationists, Star crew

Chirsu trades (again!) and acquires a laser carbine.  While Chirsu and Jayy are wandering and seeing the sights, Jayy gets into a heated argument with a off-duty trooper.  Things get really ugly and Jayy can’t let it go. (Met someone, failed a persuade roll and now it is a chance encounter.  This is not the mission – the argument happened during see the sights.)

Chance Encounter: Defeat or drive off the other side. Each side takes turns placing one figure on their half the table. Figures cannot set up within 9” of the halfway point between the two table edges.

The enemy is 1 Trooper with a rifle, talent is sharp shooter and wearing mesh armour.

Terrain – in a room.  Assuming that the argument happened in close range so made it a room.

First turn is the trooper.

Setup

The trooper fire at Jayy.  Rolls a 6 and Jayy is KO.

Poor Jayy

Chirsu fires – misses with both shots; the trooper returns fire, rolls a 6 and Chirsu is KO.

Poor Chirsu

The trooper rolled twice and rolled a 6 both times.  Sometimes it just works out that way.

Chirsu would have got a mental scar from the KO (lose one random talent) but Chirsu use the nano-doc to be fine instead.

Jayy receives a moderate wound and must rest for 4 weeks so will not be around for the mission.

However Jayy did mention to Chirsu that bounty hunters were searching for him (campaign event to add an enemy) and also provided him a lead to an opportunity to deal with the cultists, one of the main factions in the settlement.

Mission is an Encounter (Defeat or drive off the other side. Each side takes turns placing one figure on their half the table. Figures cannot set up within 9” of the halfway point between the two table edges).

Cultists

Enemy: 2 Cultists, armed with rifles. One has a blade.

Terrain

Structure | Structure

                Structure

Structure | Linear obstacles

Conditions are None: None.

Onc again the terrain screams indoors, converting structures to a room and so just set up 4 rooms in a 2x2 grid and I rolled for doors.

First turn is Chirsu. I rolled to see if the Cultist stay together or split up.  They start split up.

Table

Deployment

Chirsu moves to the door to fire at the 1^st cultist, The cultist can reaction fire.  Has a 1 in 6 chance of suppressing Chirsu. The cultist suppresses Chirsu, meaning Chursi turn has ended and cannot fire.

Chirsu is suppressed (two green markers)

The 1^st cultist has a blade and Chirsu is suppressed.  Both of these will give the cultist a very large advantage in melee. So the cultist charges Chirsu, engages in melee and Chirsu is out of action (the cultist roll a 6 to to make sure).

Cultist charging

Chirsu is Knocked out

It is taking longer for me to configure the table than it is to play the game!  I am thinking I may need to recruit to actually have a bit of tactical play in the battles.   Although the narrative that is generated is great.

Mission outcome: failed.

No change to enemy list.

No change to faction strength.

Chirsu gains a light wound and must rest for 2 campaign turns. equipment fine

Campaign event. Found a bargain. Traded away the pistol and rolled on the loot table. Colonist rations: While they all tend to taste the same, colonist rations basically last forever without going bad and are optimized to provide the perfect balance of nutrition, energy and boredom. Rations last for 4 missions. Group may ignore effects of 1 Shock die per mission, chosen whenever the player decides.

Faction: Bandits (6) rolls 6; Corporation (4) rolls 3; Cultists (5) rolls 5. No change. 

Week 4

Inventory:  rifle, autorifle, laser carbine, jump belt, colonist rations (4 missions)

Enemies: Isolationists, Star crew, Bounty Hunters

Resting.

Must lose an item to pay for the week (rifle).

Campaign event. Laying low for a while. All injured characters recover as if they had rested for 1 more turn.  Woo-hoo!  That was lucky.

Bandits (6) rolls 5; Corporation (4) rolls 4; Cultists(5) rolls 4. Bandits and Cultists rolled under while Corporation did not.  Corporation is reduced by 1 to 3 strength.

Character event for PC: Personal milestone - the character has achieved some sort of personal goal. If this result is generated a second time for the same character, they will leave the campaign permanently.

5 Parsecs Chirsu campaign – Week 2

Introduction

Playing a Five Parsecs From Home 1st edition campaign.  Starting with one party member.  No aliens, no psionics. 

Week 2

Inventory: pistol, rifle, jump belt, nano-doc.

Chirsu again trades and needs to choose between a grenade launcher or an autorifle.  They take the autorifle as it is a better all-round weapon for close and long range.

Chirsu did not realise it at the time but sometime in the past they made an enemy of some Isolationists.  They choose now to enact some revenge.  Chirsu gets a little advance notice of their assault and holds up in an office

Assault: Select a location, item or terrain feature that you are defending. The player's forces set up in, on or within 6” of this feature. Attackers set up with 6” of any table edge of their choice.

Isolationists

Enemy: 2 Isolationists, both armed with pistol.

Terrain:
LOS blocking forest or ruins | Scatter e.g. boulders, debris, single trees
                LOS blocking forest or ruins
     Structure                           | LOS blocking hill or bushes

This terrain screams to be inside a building.  I setup some rooms and walls using Battle System Cyberpunk walls.  Chirsu is guarding the room on the bottom left.

Deploy

1^st Isolationist gets a scurry (no reaction fire) so moves close.

2^nd Isolationist moves close but just out of sight of Chirsu.

Chirsu fires at the 1^st Isolationist and they are suppressed.

2^nd Isolationist moves into range of Chirsu, who reaction fires for no result.

2^nd Isolationist then fires and pins Chirsu.

Chirsu activates, as they are pinned they may only fire at closest (i.e. 1^st Isolationist).  The 1^st Isolationist is suppressed and must retreat (as they are already suppressed).

2^nd Isolationist fires and misses, Chirsu fires back and the 2^nd Isolationist is Knocked out.

1^st Isolationist unsuppresses and needs to get into range but has no choice to move into the LOS of Chirsu.  They move to where the 2^nd Isolationist was located. Chirsu fires at 1^st Isolationist and the 1^st Isolationist is Knocked out.

Chirsu KOs 2nd Isolationist next to the 1st one (also KO)

Chirsu wins!

Winning does not convince the Isolationists to leave Chirsu alone (no change to enemy list).

Chirsu also finds out that it is not only the Isolationists he has annoyed in the past,  there was a run-in with some Star crew that have made them an enemy (campaign event).

Faction changes: Bandits (6) rolls 6; Corporation (4) rolls 6; Cultists (5) rolls 5. No change

While chilling, Chirsu runs into Jayy who was a soldier he served with years ago. Chirsu convinces Jayy to join him for the next mission while Jayy is between jobs.

Jayy, Soldier, War torn hell hole origin. Brawler; SMG, jump belt.

5 Parsecs Chirsu campaign – Character generation and week 1

Introduction

Playing a Five Parsecs From Home 1st edition campaign.  Starting with one party member.  No aliens, no psionics. 

This post has the generation of the single character, location and the first week (1 week will equal 1 campaign turn).

Initial party

5PfH 1st Edition has this paragraph in Character Creation “You could even start a campaign with only a single character but note that “heroes” have no special protections in Five Parsecs From Home. One shot and it could be all over.”

Always up for a challenge, I am starting with one character.  Originally I was going to go for 2, but why not go low?

I used the character creation from the rules but with my modified talent, weapon and gear list.  Also I did use the background table from Starport Scum as that seemed to be just a bit better than the one in Every Star an Opportunity.

Chirsu, the sole party member

Chirsu

Chirsu, Soldier, Military outpost origin. Skills: Trader, leader. Gear: pistol, rifle, jump belt.

Trader skill: Roll twice on trade table and choose one or +1 to trade tasks.

Leader skill: When activated, all in 3" may recover, +1 to recovery checks.

Jump Belt: They permit the user to jump to the roof of a building one story tall or to clear most obstacles. The wearer can't move in the turn they use the belt. It can also be used to safely descend from any heights present on a typical gaming table.

Motivation: Power. You dream of one day being on top, legions at your beck and call.

Class: Soldier. “Professional Military” can mean anything from government troops to local goons with (mostly) the same colour helmets.  Game effect: on a roll of 6, begin the game with a random Talent (this was Trader). Add a rifle to groups armoury (added).

Background: After growing up you got a decent job. Things going great and finally you found true love. All was lost because of a system wide market crash.

Location

I am playing this in a version of the Columbia Games High Colonies setting – 200 years in the future, the solar system has lots of nation-aligned colonies and space habitats.  Earth was rendered uninhabitable in a war about 70 years before the current time.  The setting may not have a significant bearing on the game but we shall see.

Location: Dreamtime space colony at Mars GSO

League: Terran Commonwealth; nation Australia; climate Moderate, atmosphere: Breathable, extensive, population: Single large city, biosphere: Moderate biosphere, social: Bureaucratic democracy, main export: Manufactured products.

Factions (strength): Local authorities (1), Corporation (4), Cultists (6).

Problems: Ruthless corporation, Infiltration by external force, Out of control tax collection.

Week 1

Chirsu chooses to trade and acquires another rifle.  They also manage to get in a bit of training but not enough to be skilled in anything.

Searching though the possible missions, there is an opportunity to grab a local map from a mercenary.

Grab: Place an item in a terrain feature on the opposite half of the table. This item must be picked up and carried off your own table edge. Each side sets up within 6" of opposing sides.  PCs go first.

Merc

The enemy is a mercenary with an autorifle.

Terrain (generated as a 2x2 grid with a central zone as well)

Rough e.g. marsh, craters | LOS blocking hill or bushes

                Rough e.g. marsh, craters

Linear obstacles | Rough e.g. marsh, craters

Conditions are pretty gloomy: All fire above 18” range will not score a KO.

The local map is behind a hedge in the bottom corner. 

Battle board

Playing on 2'x2' table so figures move on to the table in the first turn rather than setup on the table.

The mercenary is entering from the left, Chirsu from the right. Chirsu moves into the woods while the mercenary moves to guard the local map.

First moves

Chrisi gets to the edge of the wood, is spotted and the mercenary reaction fires and suppresses Chirsu.

Mercenary firing at Chirsu

The mercenary fires again and the gun jams (double 1!).  Chirsu recovers from the suppression and fires at the mercenary but misses.  The mercenary unjams their autorifle. Chirsu fires and misses, the mercenary reaction fires and Chirsu is KO.

Mission failed.

It was never going to end well.  A rifle Vs an autorifle. And both are in cover.  Chirsu would need to be lucky to win and just had normal dice.

The Mercenary does not seem to hold a grudge (didn’t make them an enemy).

Chirsu comes to later and is all good.  They check their equipment and no damage there either.

There is an opportunity to sell and item.  Chirsu chooses to sell a rifle and acquires a nano-doc (one-use item curing ill effects from an Injury roll).

Faction changes: Local authorities (1) rolls 5; Corporation (4) rolls 3; Cultists (5) rolls 2.  The Local Authorities as a faction is reduced to 0 and gone. New faction: Bandits with strength 6!  There is a story in here that could be leveraged later where bandits have sprung form nowhere and overtaken local authorities, corporation and the cultists to become the main source of the underpinning power across the settlement.

After this initial setback, Chirsu embarks on some self-reflection and their motivation changes from Power to Discovery (The idea that there is uncharted space seems like a wrong that must be corrected).

Start of a Five Parsecs from Home (1st Edition) Campaign

 Introduction

It has been a few years since postig here.  I have not been idle and in those years have gone through about 3 fairly different versions of 1d6 SFRPG.  There is a low priority post coming on them.  But as a detour, I have long wanted to do a 5 Parsecs campaign. 

I have finished playing six quick very small linked FiveCore Pulp Skirmish games using FiveCore Skirmish Pulp Adventures. (on my non-SF blog)  My plan was next for a 10-game (or thereabouts) Five Men in Normandy campaign and then follow that up with a 1st Edition Five Parsecs from Home campaign. I got a bit of a 20mm WW2 fix recently and also got too involved in looking at the 5 Parsecs rules and so started one with 5 Parsecs.  I am also obsessing over how to combine Classic Traveller, my 1d6 simple SF RPG rules and some 5 Parsecs stuff.  But that will be for a later day.

I used an Excel spreadsheet to assist in generating missions and determining pre and post mission results.

5 Parsecs from Home 1^st Edition (5PfH1) rules commentary

I am using 1st edition as it uses the 5Core rules (that I like) and doesn’t track funds.   2nd and 3^rd edition's many tables are tied into the combat system, have credits etc.  1^st Edition is more streamlined that later editions – 1^st edition has less chrome and so less to track!  I am also using parts of Every Star an Opportunity (1^st Edition).

My main aim was to use the process as written as much as possible and to minimise any table changes.  As I play I may change some of the tables.

Changes

• Converted the tables to 1d20 (most of them, even though d100, had around 18-23 entries) and tweaked some of the tables.
• Removed all Unity references and all the Alien & Psionic stuff (wasn't very hard really) as my universe doesn’t have them.
• Created a revised list of 20 talents (mostly based on the ones mentioned in the rules). 9 combat related, most of the rest gleaned from the tables and a couple that seemed useful for pre and post tasks.
• Modified the weapon table significantly – weapons are aligned to Classic Traveller and 5Core Skirmish, and also less chance of the more powerful ones.
• Armour became Classic Traveller armour (mesh, cloth and combat armour)
• Expanded the characteristics of the enemies list (possible weapons, talents etc.) to vary them up.
• Replaced the background table from Every Star an Opportunity with the one from Starport Scum.

For reference, here is the turn sequence I am using (note ESaO = Every Star and Opportunity supplement):

If travelling

• Travel to another world
• Roll starship event (ESaO)
• Each enemy roll 5+ and they follow you, else remove enemies
• Remove patron list

Assign and resolve tasks

• Rest: Any characters must rest if injured. If all injured then turn is only one see the sights and no mission - go straight from see the sights to campaign events
• Pick up to 2 activities, 1 if less than 2 characters not resting in party. No activity other than one see the sights if all characters resting.
• Find Patron: One go only. New patron: 6+, +1 patron talent, +1 if use second activity. Existing patron: 5+, +1 patron talent. Patron may relate to faction.
• Train: 6+ for one character to gain a talent; if already have talent, roll character event
• Trade: can be selected only once.
• Sell: can be selected only once. Sell one item to roll on the Trade table
• Recruit: 5+, +1 recruit talent, +1 < 5 crew, +1 if use second activity. A natural 6 is a goon (no special, talent etc. Handgun or rifle)
• Track down enemies: Select an enemy. 5+ tracked them down and may fight them as the mission
• Repair: Repair a damaged or broken item
• Gamble: See Gear loaded dice
• See the sights: see the sights

After resolving activities, must do a see the sights if not chosen as an activity

Resolve Rumours

If d6 <= #rumours then on a quest.  Remove rumours. Quest type: SS (p49) or problems (EsaO)

Enemy mission

If not tracked enemy then roll a d6 for each enemy. On a 1 then enemy mission (more than 1 then random)

Mission

If not tracked enemies or enemy mission, or starting a quest (must do a mission if start a quest) then optionally not do a mission. Go to Campaign events.

Local travel (p62). An encounter is see the sights.

Type:

• If enemy mission, then roll enemy mission
• If tracked enemy selected, then roll tracked enemy mission
• If on a quest, then roll quest mission
• If patron mission selected, then patron mission
• else roll opportunity mission

Enemy:

• Roll enemy
• Roll if faction related 5+ (more chance if patron = faction, ESaO) or if enemy = faction then yes
• Roll # enemy
• Roll enemy weapons
• Roll leader traits

Battlefield:

• Roll terrain
• Roll battlefield condition
• If mission required target locations, select target locations
• If mission has target object, roll target
• If mission has target civilian, use character creation
• Roll for who moves first    

Play mission

Post-mission

Successful quest mission: roll outcome +1 per lead

If lead: d6=1 travel to a previous location; =6 travel to new location (see p62 for planet travel); xxx = offworld milestone: after second milestone, next mission is final one

Fail patron mission: remove patron from list

If faction related, roll d6=1 +1/-1 to faction strength

Resolve enemies

If fought a successful mission against an enemy, roll 5+ and enemies defeated and no longer enemy

If fought a successful mission against not an enemy, roll a 1 and opposition is a new enemy.

Note: Enemy list is from enemies table.

Loot

Mission successful only

Enemy mission: no loot

Opportunity Mission: roll once

Patron Mission: roll once and roll once on Trade table

Finish Quest: roll twice and once on Trade table

Injuries & breakdowns

Out of action: roll on injury table + equipment d6=1 equipment KO

Suppressed: On a 6, as per out of action, else Ok

Campaign events

If no mission then remove 1 item/weapon from the party per character (paying for overheads)

Campaign event

Roll for faction wars (1d6 for each faction, roll under strength to be fine, roll equal or over and if all others rolled under then -1.  If 0 then gone, roll for another faction) ESaO

Settlement event, ESaO

Character events

Roll once for random character

Player actions

Emergency recruitment: if 0-1 characters able to take to field, may recruit 1-2 goons with handguns or rifles.

Other emergency, only if desperate: Pick one and on a d6=6: a weapon, reduce injury time, add talent, rivalry, friendship, patron, track enemy, repair damaged item

5Core Skirmish rules commentary

Well, when I say 5Core skirmish, the rules are based on 5Core but not the same J I cannot help but tinker!

• I have converted the 1K1S results to 1d6 (I like rolling 1d6) and 3 results – pinned (no reaction fire, can’t move, Ok next activation), suppressed (no move or fire until rallied but if suppressed when already suppressed need to retreat into newer cover.) and KO (out of action).
• To hide a figure needs to be out of LOS (e.g. behind a building) not just ducking down. A figure ducking down can still be fired at but can’t be knocked out, just suppressed (unless with 6” then possibly KO). This stems out of some conversations with Just Jack on how he plays 5MiN (in the comments).
• A figure can react fire if fired on and it missed, or if a figure moves into LOS as per the rules. If a figure reaction fires they can still be activated next turn. This is similar to FiveCore Company Command. It makes it easier to play the game and one less marker!

Table size and figures

Table size will vary from 12”x12” to 2’x2’ depending on what feels right for the mission.  Terrain generation will be for 5 location - a 2x2 grid with a central terrain type as well.

Figures are 20mm and I am using WW2 Russian and partisan figures as they look a little futuristic pulp-ish gang-ish.   

To show pinned and suppressed I use little grass-like tufts – one for pinned, two for suppressed.

Final Comment

That is about enough for an intro.  I have already done half a dozen campaign turns so will start posting them.  Some people are really good at turning a campaign turn into an interesting narrative; I am not that great, and also don’t have enough time to do that.  The actual battles do not take long as I start with (spoiler) only one party member.  I will change the output into something more readable though.

High Colony Sam Landry turn 2 - a 5 Parsecs from Home Campaign

Introduction

I solo play though the second campaign turn of a 5 Parsecs from Home adventure using my own combat rules.  The adventure is based in the High Colonies setting – a colonised solar system in 2228.  This is the first campaign turn.

It took a while to get around to the second turn.  I replaced the railway 20mm figures with some Heroscape figures.  The terrain is still very basic.

All the campaign turn narrative is generated by the spreadsheet, except the actual encounter.

Changes to the rules are in the first turn post. 

Campaign Turn 2

Period 2. Location: Cook.

The team of 4 is currently Samantha Landry, Cain Randolph, Santos Kirk, Jaylin Wang.

Credits: 13. Patrons: 2. Rivals: 0. Not on a Quest. Clues: 2. Rumours: 0.

The team decide to not travel.

Upkeep is 1 Credits.

Cain Randolph is in sickbay for 1 turn. Spend 4 credits for 1 turn speed up for Cain. Cain is out of sickbay. Total of 4 credits spent on sickbay acceleration.

Jobs

Crew available for jobs are: Samantha Landry, Santos Kirk, Jaylin Wang.

Samantha Landry and Santos Kirk look for a patron. New Patron found: Local government.

Job on offer pays 1 Credits and have this turn to execute.

Jaylin Wang trains and goes from 3XP to 4XP.

Assigning equipment

Samantha Landry is assigned: Clingfire pistol Brutal melee weapon Combat armour Body wire reflex enhancing implants

Cain Randolph is assigned: Blast rifle

Santos Kirk is assigned: Shotgun

Jaylin Wang is assigned: Blast rifle

Pre-encounter

No quest.

Mission selected is: Patron mission.

Patron for the mission is Local government.

Opposition is 5 Aggressive Raiders with a Morale of 2.

  Lieutenant: S-4 C-2 T-3 Rifle, Old fashioned blade

  Specialist: S-4 C-1 T-3 Shotgun

  Raiders: S-4 C-1 T-3 Rifle

  Raiders: S-4 C-1 T-3 Rifle

  Raiders: S-4 C-1 T-3 Rifle

The opposition (deployed already)

Deploy Conditions: None

Notable Sights: Loot cache. Nano-Booster. Single-use drug. Increases Speed by +1

Mission Target: Clear. A crew member, Cain, must exit across the Enemy table edge.

Terrain Type: Industrial

Terrain layout (3 x 3 areas):

  Key building, Key building, Trees

  Open, Open, Pit/Yard

  Pit/Yard, Pit/Yard, Pit/Yard

The team on the mission:

Samantha Landry: R-2 S-4 C-0 T-4 Svy-0 Clingfire pistol, Brutal melee weapon, Armour: Combat armour, Other: Body wire reflex enhancing implants.

Cain Randolph: R-1 S-5 C-0 T-3 Svy-0 Blast rifle.

Santos Kirk: R-2 S-4 C-1 T-3 Svy-0 Shotgun.

Jaylin Wang: R-1 S-4 C-0 T-3 Svy-2 Blast rifle.

The crew

The final number of enemy opposing the mission is 5

Deploy Enemies: Not within 18" of any enemy or 6" of deployed table edge.

The team does not seize the initiative.

Encounter

The defenders are spread out to guard against easily exiting off their side

The team leads with Sam and Santos to the right for firepower, Jaylin and Cain are on the very far right to move through the cover of the yards and then through the woods.

The setup - The crew need to get Cain off the other side

Only Sam gets to move in the quick phase.

Sam fires at the specialist in the building with her clingfire pistol for no effect!

In retaliation, the troops in the building fire back and suppress Sam.

Sam is suppressed (to green bushes indicate this).

Santon and Jaylin move up and fire for no effect (those units in the building are hard to effect in hard cover.

Sam and Jaylin open up to no effect - the raiders are in hard cover.

Jaylin and Santos get to move in the quick phase.

Santos suppresses the Specialist and kills a Raider (really high dice rolls!).  Jaylin suppresses the other Riflemen in the building.

They raiders  don't get a chance to fire back and Santos and Jaylin manage to fire them again and take them down

The raiders are aggressive so the 2 raiders in the woods (including the leader) cannot see much so charge into the mining yards and straight into a brawl with Jaylin.

Raiders charge into a brawl with Jaylin

Unbelievable! On a roll of 4 dice for the leader and 4 dice for the raider, they both roll 1 success each (a success is a 4+ on a die).  Jaylin knocks out the raider and pins the leader.

...but Jaylin has the upper hand.

Sam unsuppresses.

The next turn Santos and Jaylin move in the quick phase.

Jaylin still locked in melee with the Raider leader.

Santos knocks out the Specialist.

Santos manages to take out the Specialist raider

With 2 raiders down and another 2 suppressed, the raiders leave the table

With a number of the raiders down, the raiders flee the field.

The crew get the loot.

Post-encounter

The mission was a success!

The team held the field at the end.

The team did not run away.

The team did not kill the Boss.

The enemy is a new Rival and Rival list updated.

Pay/salvage is 4 Credits.Plus Patron bonus of 1 Credits. Total earned is 5 Credits. Crew have 13 Credits.

Loot! Bionic parts.

Plus the loot cache. Nano-Booster.

Samantha Landry awarded 3 XP for an overall total of 9 XP. XP awarded for surviving and holding the field.

Cain Randolph awarded 3 XP for an overall total of 6 XP. XP awarded for surviving and holding the field.

Santos Kirk awarded 4 XP for an overall total of 7 XP. XP awarded for surviving and holding the field,  first to inflict a casualty.

Jaylin Wang awarded 4 XP for an overall total of 7 XP. XP awarded for surviving and holding the field, inflicted a casualty on the enemy Boss.

The team skip shopping.

One of the crew found something interesting. Gain one Rumor.

An event occurs for Samantha Landry. You get hurt while working on the ship. Spend 1 turn in Sick-Bay.

Verdict

The combat is going very fast but to be expected on a 2’x2’ table. Otherwsie 2 turns in and ready for the next one!

I am still playing version 1.10 and really need to find some time to update the spreadsheet with the extra Enemies.

High Colony Sam Landry turn 1 - a 5 Parsecs from Home Campaign

Introduction

I solo play though the first campaign turn of a 5 Parsecs from Home adventure using my own combat rules.  The adventure is based in the High Colonies setting – a colonised solar system in 2228.

Background

So there I was, starting a THW Future Tales solo adventure and had run through the first few scenes. 

But Five Parsecs from Home (2^nd Edition) has been in the back of my mind for a year. Regularly looking at it and in denial I was interested. Finally at the end of October 2019 I started automating as best I could everything in Five Parsecs from Home into a spreadsheet (everything but the combat part!).  I finished this in late November.  I did not want to specifically play with the 5Parsecs combat rules. I have some (unpublished) rules I have used for some previous pulp games and (unpublished) rules I use for WW2 skirmish.  I wanted to combine these rules into something I could reuse across a number of pulp-type games I plan to play (The Department, Pulp Alley campaigns, Battlestations boardgame, possibly the original Warhammer Quest).  I realised my original pulp rules were good as a basis but not suitable for a wider scope so quickly modified them.  A work in progress, they do map directly to the character abilities in 5Parsecs and so are compatible with them.  The main difference is everything is opposed GoalSystem dice roll pools.  Each side will roll 1-5 six-sided dice and compare successes.  GoalSystem is that on each die, a 1-3 is zero successes, 4-5 one success and a 6 is two successes.

I decided to run the adventure using the newly unearthed (by me) High Colonies RPG set in the near future Solar System.  I have a blog page for details on HighColonies setting.

All the campaign turn narrative is generated by the spreadsheet, except the actual encounter.

Changes to the rules

I tried to limit the changes to the rules as much as possible but here they are:

•  Combat rules are different but are compatible with character and weapon stats.  Also, I will be playing encounters on a 2’x2’ board.
• The XP required to level up is different for each level and generally harder than the rules (this aligns to how the abilities are used in combat).
• Luck was added to the rules in version .10 but I have not included it.
• Story Points are tracked but I think I will only use them to save PCs from death.
• I added in some terrain generation rules (the encounter objective aligns to 4 terrain types that then generate a 3x3 matrix of terrain.
• I added in additional mission types from the 1^st edition for Opportunity and Quest missions.

Getting the team together

The team met through a random meeting in a bar and are best characterised as Lovable rogues.

The 6 person team:

1. Samantha Landry is a Female Scavenger with a Space station background and a motivation for Survival. Stats: Reaction 2 (body wire increased reaction), Speed 4, Combat 0, Toughness 4, Savvy 0, XP 0. Items: Body wire reflex enhancing implants.
2. Elijah Wagner is a Male Scientist with a Industrial world background and a motivation for Adventure. Stats: Reaction 1, Speed 4, Combat 0, Toughness 3, Savvy 1, XP 0.
3. Omari Crawford is a Male Working class with a War torn hell hole background and a motivation for Escape. Stats: Reaction 2, Speed 5, Combat 0, Toughness 3, Savvy 1, XP 0.
4. Cain Randolph is a Male Scoundrel with a Bureaucratic class background and a motivation for Adventure. Stats: Reaction 1, Speed 5, Combat 0, Toughness 3, Savvy 0, XP 0.
5. Santos Kirk is a Male Enforcer with a Wasteland nomads background and a motivation for Truth. Stats: Reaction 2, Speed 4, Combat 1, Toughness 3, Savvy 0, XP 0.
6. Jaylin Wang is a Female Working class with a Tech guild background and a motivation for Order. Stats: Reaction 1, Speed 4, Combat 0, Toughness 3, Savvy 2, XP 0.

Stash

Low-Tech Weapons: Shotgun, Handgun, Brutal melee weapon, Handgun, Rifle, Shotgun.

High-Tech Weapons: Hand flamer, Hand cannon, Clingfire pistol, Glare sword, Blast rifle.

Military Weapons: Blast rifle.

Gear: Dazzle grenades, Purifier, Nano-doc, Combat armour.

Gadgets: Duplicator.

Credits: 16. Patrons: 2. Rivals: 0. Not on a Quest. Clues: 2. Rumours: 0.

Campaign turn 01 – A fight with raiders

Period 1. Location: Cook. Cook is a Colony station and is at Earth-Moon L3 with a population of 1200,000 that are Wary. The government is Australia and ruled via a Multi-Party Parliament.

The team of 6 is currently Samantha Landry, Elijah Wagner, Omari Crawford, Cain Randolph, Santos Kirk, Jaylin Wang.

Credits: 16. Patrons: 2. Rivals: 0. Not on a Quest. Clues: 2. Rumours: 0.

The team decide to not travel.

Upkeep is 1 Credits.

No one in Sickbay.

Jobs

Crew available for jobs are: Samantha Landry, Elijah Wagner, Omari Crawford, Cain Randolph, Santos Kirk, Jaylin Wang.

Omari Crawford and Cain Randolph look for a patron. 2 Credits are spent to help out. Existing Patron found: Sector government.

Job on offer pays 2 Credits and have 1 turn to execute.

Samantha Landry trains and goes from 0XP to 1XP.

Elijah Wagner trains and goes from 0XP to 1XP.

Santos Kirk explores and finds an Arms dealer. 3 Credits each, in order: Shellgun, Blast rifle, Rifle, Suppression maul, Rattlegun.  Team buys the Shellgun and Blast Rifle (6 Credits).

Jaylin Wang explores and gets a few drinks. No effect.

Total spent on jobs is 8 Credits.

Assigning equipment

Samantha Landry is assigned: Clingfire pistol, Brutal melee weapon, Combat armour, Body wire reflex enhancing implants.

Elijah Wagner is assigned: Hand flamer, Glare sword.

Omari Crawford is assigned: Hand cannon.

Cain Randolph is assigned: Blast rifle.

Santos Kirk is assigned: Shellgun.

Jaylin Wang is assigned: Blast rifle.

Mission

Ok, now for the admission – I have no SF figures.  Well, OK, I have some 15mm unpainted figures that are in storage and did a quick look but cannot find.  I also have little in the way of SF terrain.  So what do I have: 20mm WW2 figures and some terrain not in storage and 20mm railway characters I plan to use for Pulp Alley and similar games.  So the raiders look just like WW2 soviets and our team look like they are waiting for a train 😊 I can suspend my disbelief as I assume the team could look like normal people but with weapons.  Imagine the weapons.  And Cook I a space colony so the terrain could be anything – just so happens to look very “Earthy”.  I thought about adding some SF bits to at least give a semblance, but did look around the house very hard as I was focussed on playing.

No quest.

Mission selected is: Patron mission.

Patron for the mission is Sector government.

Opposition is 7 Aggressive Raiders with a Morale of 2.

Boss: S-4 C-2 T-4 Rifle, Old fashioned blade, Hand gun

Lieutenant: S-4 C-2 T-3 Rifle, Old fashioned blade

Specialist: S-4 C-1 T-3 Shotgun

Raiders: S-4 C-1 T-3 Rifle

Raiders: S-4 C-1 T-3 Rifle

Raiders: S-4 C-1 T-3 Rifle

Raiders: S-4 C-1 T-3 Rifle

The opposition.

Deploy Conditions: None

Notable Sights: None

Mission Target: Patrol. Fight a normal battle and hold the field at the end.

Objective: Store.

Terrain Type: Mixed

Terrain layout (3 x 3 areas):

Open, Open, Open

Open, Crops, Crops

Park, Light woods, Light woods

Store location: 3

The team on the mission:

• Samantha Landry: R-2 S-4 C-0 T-4 Svy-0 Clingfire pistol Brutal melee weapon Armour: Combat armour.
• Elijah Wagner: R-1 S-4 C-0 T-3 Svy-1 Hand flamer Glare sword.
• Omari Crawford: R-2 S-5 C-0 T-3 Svy-1 Hand cannon.
• Cain Randolph: R-1 S-5 C-0 T-3 Svy-0 Blast rifle.
• Santos Kirk: R-2 S-4 C-1 T-3 Svy-0 Shellgun.
• Jaylin Wang: R-1 S-4 C-0 T-3 Svy-2 Blast rifle.

Our team.

The final number of enemies opposing the mission is 7.

Deploy enemies: Set up in one “blob” with 1“ between each figure.

The team seizes the initiative. Any character in your crew may either take a normal move or may fire before the game begins.

The game table with both sides deployed.

Encounter

Note: combat rules used for this encounter are here.

For seizing the initiative, Omari moves up to get into range.

Omari dashes up the side of the road.

For the Quick Phase, only one roll available to assign so give it to Omari to fire as he is a little exposed.  Omari fires at the raider to his front for no effect.

The raiders are aggressive enemies so most advance.  For Omari this is bad as three enemy converge on him.

Aggressive enemies charging forward.  Omari is a target in reach of three of them! 

Omari Vs three Raiders:   Omari does not do well and The Boss is hard to beat (especially when he rolled really well).  Omari is out of the fight.

Omari is out of the fight.  Not unexpected.

The rest of the team now get to respond, revenge for Omari!

Elijah has a hand flamer that can reach the three raiders. Pins the Boss; suppresses a raider.

Jaylin with the blast rifle:  nothing.

Cain with the blast rifle:  pins a raider.

Santos’s shellgun: suppresses a raider.

Sam then charges into melee with the Boss!

After some fire have suppressed some of them, Sam charges into melee with the Boss!

The Boss it out of the fight!  But Sam is pinned in return by one of the other raiders that managing to get in a melee hit even while suppressed.

(turn 2)

Sam, Elijah and Cain go in the Quick Phase.

Sam melees a raider that goes out of the fight

After putting the Boss down last turn, Sam manages to put another raider out of the fight.

 Elijah advances then fires his hand flamer to pins the Lieutenant.

Elijah uses his flamethrower but is obviously unfamiliar with it as it surprisingly does nothing!

Cain uses his blast rifle at raider at the back who is out of the fight!

In response to the above, a raider melees Sam for no effect.

Cian blasts a raider out of the fight!

 The Lieutenant and the Specialist charge at Elijah.

The flamer doing nothing, the two enemy that were targeted charge Elijah.

Elijah out of the fight.

Not surprisingly, Elijah is out of the fight.

The raiders have lost three members, one above morale level.  The raiders decide to retire.

The team has the field!

Post-Encounter

The mission was a success!

The team held the field at the end.

The team did not run away.

The team managed to kill the Boss.

Survival: 4 are OK.  2 are not OK

Elijah Wagner is not OK. Crippling wound Require 1d6 Credits of surgery or suffer -1 permanent reduction to highest of Speed or Toughness. 1 terms in SickBay.

Omari Crawford is not OK. Crippling wound Require 1d6 Credits of surgery or suffer -1 permanent reduction to highest of Speed or Toughness. 1 terms in SickBay.

The team did not make a new Rival.

Pay/salvage is 3 Credits plus Patron bonus of 2 Credits. Total earned is 5 Credits.

Loot! Recreational supplies. Can be sold for 1D6 Credits and crew does not require Upkeep next campaign turn.

Samantha Landry awarded 4 XP for an overall total of 5 XP for surviving and holding the field, inflicted a casualty on the enemy Boss.

Cain Randolph awarded 3 XP for an overall total of 3 XP for surviving and holding the field.

Santos Kirk awarded 3 XP for an overall total of 3 XP for surviving and holding the field.

Jaylin Wang awarded 3 XP for an overall total of 3 XP for surviving and holding the field.

The team do not spend anything shopping.

Equipment malfunction.  A random item in your stash is Destroyed - the Blast rifle.

An event occurs for Cain Randolph. He gets hurt while working on the ship. Spend 1 turn in Sick-Bay.

The Campaign turn has ended.

Verdict

I actually had the game set up for a month to play.  I was uncertain if I could handle playing with 6 unique characters.  So uncertain that I put off playing.  I did play in the end but it was a constant flip to see what characters had what.  I had a 2 page QRS that I now need to make one.  And another good idea would be a second sheet that has the characters, and opposition and weapon descriptions and chances to hit/melee already worked out.  I can do the latter easily from the spreadsheet.

Luckily 2 were knocked down, I fudged it so they were out and left with 4.  I have changed the sheet so 3-4 characters is the norm and hard to recruit after that.  Consequently enemies roll two d4 and chose the best, rather than the best of two d6.   Other than that I had fun and will continue on for a few games at least.  I may also change the combat rules as the distances are so close.  Although I do like the fact that the games are at close range shots and involve melee.  It was also a result of the enemies being aggressive so advanced.

I also need to check out Version 1.13 – I am a minor Patreon supporter and it has a lot more on the Enemy side of things that looks good.  Not sure I am ready to change the sheet yet as have only encountered one enemy so far.  Maybe later.