5150 New Beginnings: Play-by-Play Battle Report

 

This Black Friday, I splurged and bought a bunch of titles from Two Hour Wargames at 50% off. Great deal! In particular, I bought 5150 New Beginnings as well as its companion books. I was inspired by Andy Slack's blog about Arioniad using these same rules and figured, at this price I couldn't pass it up.

I quickly rolled up my first character, named after our new feral kitten, Svengoolie or Sven for short. I'm probably going to re-roll this guy up at some point, this is just so I can familiarize myself with the rules. All encounters will be the race "Basic." Here's a brief overview:

Sven

Name: Sven

Profession: Mercenary

Rep: 5

Weapon: P-1

Attributes: Nerves of Steel (random), Crack Shot (chosen)

Pep: 5

Savvy: 4 

Upkeep: Home 0d6 \ Space Ship: 0d6 \ Vehicle 0d6

Lifetime Rep d6 Level: 0

First up, I need to decide where my house is. I figure, my guy is starting out poor so will start in Lower Hope. I subtract 2 from the Law Level of 2 and that brings me to 0 decreasing rep d6 (DRD). I imagine it's a scummy cheap apartment building with shady tenants. Hey, it's free!

Next, an involuntary encounter. I roll 1d6 and get a 4, Job Offer (pg 96). Who is hiring? A mover. What job? Raid. I've been hired to recover some "items" from another rival mover. It says this could be a robbery or a confrontation. I think I will go with a confrontation. Base pay is 4 increasing rep d6 (IRD). Do I accept the job? Yep! I choose to play it as a non-lethal fight, just gotta rough the guy up, no need for shootin'.

Where are they? I roll on the transit map and get a 7, Pubs & Rec. That's 2 sections I must travel, so I could have a travel encounter. I roll a 6, so no travel encounter. I need to know what building it is and that's easy as I also picked up the 5150 New Hope City Deck. So I draw a card from the Pubs and Rec pile and get the building "Strip Club." Next, I resolve a PEF outside the building and get Criminal Element! I look at the reference card and roll a 6, thief. How many? Just 1. Then I roll 1/2d6 for their stats on the back of the Criminal Element card, rep 5 pep 4 sav 5 wep P-1 basic.

It's time to interact with the thief, I roll 2d6 vs their pep skill. I pass 2d6 and they pass 1d6. I gain an IRD and can further interact. I decide to forgo the further interaction and head in to confront the Mover.

First, how many of them? Just the 1. Now I roll up the stats for the mover. They're a Diplomat with a rep of 5 pep 5 sav 4 wep P-1

I go to the action table and roll a 3, I have the advantage. We pass the same number of d6 on the action table, so ties go to the person who had the advantage, me. Sven wastes no time! I grab the guy by the scruff of the neck and clear the table with his face, the fight is on! I pass 2d6 on the melee QRS (quick reference sheet) and he passes the same. We each suffer a -1 rep penalty, dropping our rep to 4 each. Round 2 I pass 2d6 and he passes 1d6! I roll a 4 on the table, which equals his rep (with the -1 penalty) and he goes OOF (out of the fight). I forgot to roll to see if the police came but I got a -1, so they aren't coming. Whew!

With sore knuckles and the items the Mover wanted, I head back home. I resolve a PEF outside of the building, 1 Joe - Service. I interact with him and gain an IRD. I decide to further interaction is in order, as he only rolls 1d6 since he's a Joe. I pass 2 and I gain an additional IRD.

Next, I head back home. Two stops on the transit system and I score a 2, encounter! I have an encounter in the Pubs and Rec area and it's a pickpocket. I roll on the pickpocket to see what the stats are and then roll on the attempted pickpocket table. I pass 2d6 and they pass 2d6. The pickpocket passes by me but doesn't attempt a theft. Whew!

Ok, now I'm back at home and ready for payment. The base pay was 4 IRD for being a Mover and I gained another 4 during the combat and interactions for a grand total of 8 IRD. I decide to roll it on my people skill of 5 and get no 6's! Better luck next time, I suppose.

8 IRD

0 DRD

Lifetime Rep D6: 8

First Impressions: It's a big book! The PDF weighs in at 269 pages, including counters and battle boards, and 2 scripted campaigns. I found it to be easy to read and picked up the basic rules quickly. It's like a super sized toolbox for you to grab up the rules you want and discard the rest. Having the 5150 City Deck is pretty much essential, at least for me. I never really got into Maiden Voyage because it took a while to generate random characters. I'm just lazy like that. 😀

I also noticed some added encounters (mining and Breaking and Entering), which I'd like to try out. I could have easily used the rules for a bar fight for the above encounter but decided to keep it simple. It is a nice option though! There's also "Draw" which captures a more cinematic approach to the usual just start shooting people.

The counters in this game are topnotch! I particularly like the spaceships that are provided and there's even a space battle board. Everything you need in just this book with the exception of some d6's.

I look forward to playing again!