Thursday, November 30, 2023

November Games

I've started scheduling these posts, so they go up just before midnight on the last day of the Month. That way you can find the November Games post as the last post in November in the Blog Archive (over on the left if you're looking at this on a desktop computer... I have no idea where it is if you're looking at this on your phone...!?).

I can edit it throughout the month, adding games as I play them... 

If this post shows up with NOTHING in it other than this description... it's because I didn't end of playing ANY games this month. And I'm probably very, very sad. 

(or I've gotten so out of practice at doing this... BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T BEEN PLAYING GAMES AS MUCH ANYMORE.... that I just FORGOT to add to the post) 

The former seems more likely though...

I might do the same with the LOOKING BACK AT 2023 post and the GAME PLAN 2024 post...? Or not... 

Anyway, here's what I got up to, if I got up to anything at all:


Saturday, 25 November 2023

I DID get in ONE GAME this month!!!

Chris and Christian and I got together on Discord and played a game of Five Parsecs from Home. 

It was a short and bloody affair... or... BURNY affair - as most of the wounds were caused by laser guns...?

You can read the full game report here:

Five Parsecs From Home - Online Campaign - Round Two - Regular Delivery Bots


A lot of work has been done on the house... The basement is looking more or less DONE... we just have to move stuff back in and organize everything... Amanda assures me the proverbial dust shall have settled by the Holidaze and we'll have plenty of time to play games then. She even said she'd be willing to give either Five Parsecs from Home or Five Leagues from the Borderlands a try. 

I am hoping I'll get back to my Five Parsecs from Home solo campaign in the near future... and maybe I'll start up a Five Leagues from the Borderlands co-operative campaign with Amanda... we shall see... 

Oh, I guess that's another thing that happened this month... 

My FLGS - Dragon's Den Games in Saskatoon - got in a physical copy of Five Leagues from the Borderlands... and I went and bought it. Looking forward to giving it a try soon. Hopefully it won't COMPLETELY DISTRACT ME from the Five Parsecs from Home campaign!? 

Also, I picked up a few of the expansions for both games on Cyber Monday. I'd hoped they'd all be 50% off (as Five Parsecs from Home was Last Year). In the end, NONE of the pdfs were on sale on Modiphius' website... but a few of them were on Drive-Thru RPG (thought not at 50% off!) I did pick up two of the expansions for Five Parsecs from Home and the one for Five Leagues from the Borderlands. 


Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Five Parsecs From Home - Online Campaign - Round Two - Regular Delivery Bots

The crew briefly considered travelling to a new world... but then looked at the costs of doing so and the total credits they'd accrued so far, and figured there was still money to be made on Athilles IV!

Lt. Meetoktu Yrmngr and Mad Willie spent some time training and working on the ship. There were many arguments, so the crew spent as much time AWAY from the ship as possible... 

Brother Bart spent some time at the market, but rather than buying or selling ended up taking confessions from the faithful... and in the process received a Hot Tip about something they were searching for information about!

The new crew member, Pylon, was sent out to spread rumours in hopes of throwing off their Rivals. 

Ace and Case spent some time looking for new jobs. They were offered another job by their previous Patron, and found a new Patron. Both needed work done IMMEDIATELY... the Corporation seemed a little threatening - like NOT completing the mission might put the crew in their bad books. Other crews that had done work for them and not succeeded met with untimely ends or simply dissapeared... The Crew decided it wasn't worth it and passed on the job in favour of more work from their previous patron... which turned out to be another delivery job... 

This time they were delivering a package to a secure bunker in the middle of a ruined part of the city, scavengers and scrappers were all around looking for treasures amidst the rubble. Whether they thought the crew was moving in on their turf and trying to steal their goods, or thought they might be worth robbing... one small group of Scrappers made a move... 

As the crew approached their drop off point a voice called out to them "Hey! Watcha got there...?"

They looked around bewildered, unsure of where the voice was coming from... or... maybe they forgot how to role-play...? 

"why don't you just leave it and go away, we'll make sure it gets to where it needs to go!" 

"No, thanks! We got this!" called back Lt. Yrmngr

"Leave the fucking package or we start shooting!?" 

Someone flinched and the shooting started.... 

This is the leader of the Scrappers who was shouting at them. She's supposed to have a sword and a hand laser... I figured a GIANT-ASS-HYDRO-SPANNER could count as a sword... if ever there was close combat - which THESE foes would avoid at all costs...  

Scrapper Specialist with a Rattle Gun

There were two other scrappers armed with pistols... I just drew one picture and used it for both of them... If I'd had time, I might have changed the name tag on the second one... but... I didn't, so...

Not getting any MINIATURES PAINTED these days... but I am having fun making all these character portraits... 

This is the simple map I made in Roll20. The amorphous grey areas are huge piles of rubble and scrap - area terrain, cant draw line of sight through, bad-going. Long rust coloured things are large pipes that count as linear obstacles/cover and the smaller round rusty things are heavy barrels full of scrap and refuse. 

The blue square is where they had to get to to make the delivery. 

The red circle was a "Notable Sight" if one character spends a turn there investigating, they'd gain a bonus 2XP... 

These were the dispositions as the first shots started flying... 

The initial burst of fire from the scrappers was brutally accurate. (I just could NOT stop rolling five and sixes... and everyone was in the open...). The scrappers were all up in cover on the heaps of rubble and refuse. 

Dispositions at the end of round one... Brother BArt and Mad Willie went down in the initial burst from the rattle gun... I think...? Case took a hit from one of the hand lasers... Would have been funny if Willie had been hit with one of the lasers, because he simply DOES NOT BELIEVE IN THEM... I'd be curious to know what excuse he came up with for the damage it did to him... 

I'm curious to know how he explained away all the injuries that WERE caused by lasers... 

But the end of the first round, everyone was in cover and just blazing away at each other... with little effect. 

After a few rounds, someone (Lt. Yrmngr?) got a lucky shot off that took out the Scrapper with the Rattle Gun... which halved the number of incoming shots each turn... but it just wasn't good enough. 

Eventually Lt. Yrmngr and Ace were hit as well and Pylon (the newest, least experienced and youngest member of the crew) decided to call it a day. He probably only stayed as long as he did to provide covering fire as the rest crawled away. 

When they were out of the Kill Zone and took stock, only ONE was actually seriously injured. The bullets that passed through Brother Bart has knicked his spine and punctured a few vital organs. he needed IMMEDIATE emergency surgery and will have to spend some time recovering from his injuries aboard the ship.. 

The rest all just had minor scrapes and knicks... and BROKEN EQUIPMENT (seriously, four of the five injured rolled the same result - Equipment Loss - I guess those scrapper were aiming for their guns...?) 

News of the failed mission did not sit well with their employer... He flew into a rage and started hiring mercenaries left and right to track them down and kill them all... so the crew decided it was best if they fled the system... They had a tip to follow up about a potential BIG SCORE (a Quest!) 


Here is what happened in all the steps of the game... 

STEP 1: TRAVEL 

1. Flee Invasion (if applicable) 

No Invasion, no need to flee


2. Decide whether to travel

Seems fine where they are... Not travelling


3. Starship travel event (if applicable)

Not Travelling, no event... 


4. New world arrival steps (if applicable)

Not applicable


STEP 2: WORLD

Still on Athilles IV

1. Upkeep and Ship Repairs

1 Credit paid for Upkeep (with seven crew, this should be 2Cr, but they have a purifier that they can use to purify water and sell for 1Cr per campaign turn, reducing upkeep by one)

6 Credits paid on ship debt, 1Cr of interest applied, bringing total debt to 16Cr


2. Assign and resolve crew tasks

Jimmy Oath is in Sick Bay and unable to do tasks or participate in this turn's mission

Lt. Meetoktu Yrmngr - Training +1XP

Mad Willie - Training +1 XP

Pylon - spreading rumours to throw off Rivals

Ace and Case looking for Patrons (and jobs) offered job from current contact and a new Patron 

Brother Bart - Trade - Hot Tip - +1 Quest Rumour


3. Determine Job Offers

Current contact offered job - +1 Credit, Needs to be completed by Round Two!? 

NEW Patron - Corporation - +1 Credit, Needs to be completed by Round Two!? Vengeful - if failed, patron becomes rival. 


4. Assign Equipment

Colony Rifle assigned to Pylon


5. Resolve any Rumors

Rumours have lead to the Crew figuring out... something...? that can set them off on a QUEST!!


6. Choose your battle

Rivals did not catch up so the crew had the choice of going off on the Quest, or doing one of the Patron jobs - BOTH of which needed to be completed THIS TURN... 

So... continuing to work for the Wealthy Individual. We shall call him Melon Husk. 


STEP 3: TABLETOP BATTLE


Deployment Condition: 

No special Deployment Conditions


Notable Sights: 

Peculiar item: Gain +2 XP

(rolled nothing, but I forgot to use this last game, so...) 


Objective: 

Deliver

ANOTHER Delivery Job... well... I guess they did a good job last time delivering that Plutonium Nyborg... so... 

A crew member of The Crew's choosing is carrying a package. The package must be delivered to the exact center of the table. A suitable marker or terrain feature should be placed there. Placing the package safely requires a Combat Action.

If the carrier becomes a casualty, roll 1D6: On a 1, the item is destroyed. Otherwise it can be picked up by spending a Combat Action at the location they fell.

If you drive off all enemies, you Win as long as the package is undamaged.


THE ENEMY 

No Unique Individuals

ENEMY: Salvage Team

NUMBERS: 3+1 = 4

PANIC: 1-3

SPEED: 4”

COMBAT SKILL: +0 (Lieutenant +1) 

TOUGH NESS: 4

AI: C - Cautious

WEAPONS: 2B 

Regular: Hand Laser (12”/1/0/Snap Shot, Pistol)

Specialist: Rattle gun (24”/3/0/Heavy)

Lieutenant: Hand Laser (12”/1/0/Snap Shot, Pistol) and Blade (Brawl/-/0/Melee)

A rival crew looking for salvage, and ready to fight for it.

Scavengers: Roll twice on the Battlefield Finds Table.


THE GAME HAPPENED HERE


STEP 4: POST-BATTLE SEQUENCE

1. Resolve Rival Status

Being beaten by a bunch of rag-tag scrappers did NOT generate any new rivals. 


2. Resolve Patron Status

Patron was not pleased... 


3. Determine Quest Progress

Not a quest mission, so, no progress... 


4. Get Paid

+1Credit - presumably from some side hussle... or maybe an advance on the job...? 


5. Battlefield Finds

Nope


6. Check for Invasion

Nope


7. Gather the Loot

Cargo Crate - 1D6 credits = +2Cr - presumably found amongst the rubble and dragged off as they fled. 


8. Determine Injuries and recovery

Meetoktu - Equipment loss - Random carried item is damaged -  boarding sabre

Willie - 27 - Equipment loss - Random carried item is damaged - pistol

Ace - Equipment loss - Random carried item is damaged. - scrap pistol

Brother Bart - Crippling wound - Require 1D6 credits (-1Cr) of surgery immediately, or suffer -1 permanent reduction to highest of Speed or Toughness. 1D6 (3) turns out of action. 

Case - Equipment loss - Random carried item is damaged - Marksman Rifle



9. Experience and Character Upgrades

Meetoktu -  (+Training +1XP) +2 = +3

Willie -   (+Training +1XP) +1 = +2

Ace - +1

Brother Bart - +1

Pylon - +2

Case - +1


10. Invest in Advanced Training

Nope! 


11. Purchase items

Nope! 


12. Roll for a Campaign Event

It’s time to go!

Whatever you did, every campaign turn you stay on this planet, you must add an additional Rival. 

We said that was due to the patron being FURIOUS at their failure! 


13. Roll for a Character Event

It is time for a make-over! 

The character changes their clothes, hair-style, or something else. This is only cosmetic. If you are able to, reflect this on the miniature.

I guess I'm redrawing someone's picture! 


14. Check for Galactic War progress

No invasion, no war, no progress... 


And that was that!!! 

AT least I got to play ONE GAME this month!? 


Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Fall Terrain Painting Project

 Hasn't been much going on around here, game-wise... trying to wrap up a terrain project that's been going on for FAR TOO LONG - the 1:1 scale endless basement renovation project... It's been a DECADE that we've been chipping away at renovating the house and it feels like we've been in constant upheaval since... First was the roof and upstairs and insulation... then the kitchen... finally the basement, which had some momentum a few years back and then ground to a halt... and then Amanda decided this was the year it was going to be FINISHED!!!

In october it got to the point where drywalling was complete... and that's where I stepped in to do the PAINTING! 

Painting... 

Finished drywall before I got going on it... 

Drywall... 

More Drywall... 

STILL more drywall... 

You get the idea, right...?

Looking into THE BLACK HOLE... basement storage room (which was not renovated). 

Okay.... just about ready to go... 

Not sure why I uploaded so many... 

Now when give and blank wall and paint, the 12-year-old that pilots my brain is always tempted to scrawl rude words and drawings all over the place, but luckily, this time... 

Nope, nevermind, there it is... 

Ugggghhhh... Why am i like this...? 

Hmmmm.... 

Going to need a few coats for that room.... 

Oh, and it wasn't just the ONE room/colour... 

I am nothing, if not inclusive.... If I'm going to go and draw dicks on teh walls, it seems only right.... 

yeah... 

I... Just... 

Anyway.... 

Okay, fun time over.... time to get some actual paint on the walls... 

The hall and what was the kitchen is this lime green... it looks more yellow-ish on my computer screen... it is more lime-grean IRL. 

Hall

Kitchen... or what WAS a kitchen at one point... but is now being referred to as "studio" or "hobby project room"... 

Bathroom. 

Also bathroom. 

Looking from hall into bathroom

apparently one of the minions is moving downstairs... I'm not sure I'm super excited about the idea... but I guess it's a thing. This is their room. 

After I was done with the painting, the contractor was back installing flooring 

... and cabinetry (ikea boxes - I assembled, contractor installed) 

Door on the shower. 

bathroom vanity (again, from ikea - I assembled, contractor installed) 

Things are really moving along fast and it actually feels like... it might ALMOST be OVER!!?!?

Yesterday morning the countertops went in... 

I guess I better get building some drawers and doors!!

Will we ever see and end to it all!? Will the game room actually be accessible BEFORE the end of the year!? WILL WE ACTUALLY START PLAYING GAMES AGAIN!??!?? Amanda assures me all of these things will happen... 

I'm not going to hold my breath, or anything like promise there will be more content on this blog soon... 

I might do some stocktaking and reassessing and maybe it's time to ditch some stuff that I'm never going to get to.