We talked about the set up for the mission, then ran it through the paces. The question is how successful was it?
From a mechanical point of view, it felt like it worked pretty well. I wasn't sure about delaying the arrival of the Purge to a narrative point, but I liked how it all fit together. There was enough pressure to get out but still the ability to get some stuff before heading to the hills. It wasn't in the pictures, but Kylan was actually down to two health at one point so pretty close!
So where to start... how about all those civilians! I was worried that it would be too much going on but most of them were static for this mission. I did decide to give Delmar the delivery man at route instead of having him wander aimlessly, but that just made sense.
Dolin also had a static position until he was approached by Kylan. The idea was that once the contact passed off the information, he would want to make himself scarce. Of course that also assumes that I could actually make a Persuade roll for Kylan to get the data! I liked the narrative that evolved from that though so that works out as well.
The Purge arriving from one side of the board did mean that they were the giant stone from Indiana Jones, pushing the crew out of the station. This felt right though as I imagine the Purge vessel latching onto one location. They were still a threat and the crew wasn't able to just poke around and grab things so that feels like a good balance as well.
So how about the things that they grabbed? This was my first test with using the goods dice instead of the weapon tokens as normal. In this case they rolled up pretty good, totaling 11UA in value. To add a "role play" aspect to this, one of the crew is chosen to go out and sell the goods. How good they are at doing this is determined by their current Skill stat, just like when you try to persuade an NPC. The more successes you roll, the better the value you are able to collect. Makes sense, right?
0 successes: There aren't any buyers right now. Things are too chaotic, or the goods are too eclectic... however you want to spin it, but the goods are left sitting in your hold.
1 success: You get the "fair market value"... meaning whatever you rolled up on the dice. Better luck next time!
2 or 3 successes: You are able to talk up the value some, raking in half again the value of the goods... rounded down, of course.
4 or 5 successes: You have managed to double you money, you smooth talker! Nice work!
Of course it can't all be good! If you roll two or more "misfires", then things have gone pear shaped. Something about the items you are selling has caught the attention of the Authority and it is confiscated! Loose the highest value die but apply any other results as normal.
With all this in mind, let's see just what Kylan is able to wrangle for their 11UA of goods. Rolling three dice for his skill and... two hits and one misfire! The captain is able to talk up the value at bit and comes back to the ship with 16UA for this ship's coffers. Nice!
Now do they want to buy or sell any regular gear. Besides the goods, the crew also picked up a combat knife and a crafted short sword. Since Zhong the cyber samurai is one of the custom characters I'd made up, I figure I'll keep the sword but sell of the knife. Looking over the options that are out there, Kylan will pick up an enhanced military pistol. Nice and compact but still able to potentially reach out and kill someone. What a great combination! This drops our bank down to 8UA.
Next up is hiring new crew members. The other two custom crew that I made up are either 13UA or 17UA to hire permanently, which is out of my price range right now. Just for grins, I shuffled up the crew that I have available and pulled out five... and they are all a bit pricey so no new crew members. On to the maintenance phase!
And that's when Murphy strikes! Ouch! During their flight to get away from the Purge overrunning Arcturus Station, the Fox took some structural damage and the life support system got a bit taxed when the station's CO2 scrubbers shut down. She's still operable, but definitely worse for wear.
And there we have it! Overall... I think the switch from weapons in boxes to stuff works, at least for me. It was also fun to throw together a logical map; there were sleeping quarters, a market, a maintenance bay. It felt much more like a living space than some of the other maps I've seen. Now the question is, what's next? With the Fox getting to be worse for the wear, it looks like it might be time to scavenge for some ship parts. After all, no one will miss parts from one of the derelict ships left in the wake of the Purge. What could go wrong? Until next time...
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