Starport Scum Characters

 

I've had Starport Scum for many years now and always wanted to give it a go. Finally, after digging around my 15mm sci-fi stuff, I was inspired to create some characters to hopefully play out some games or even a campaign. We'll see how it goes!

In the rules there is a section for creating characters. Either you can build your own characters with "tags" or you can have them randomly generated for you. I decided to just look at the figure and see what comes to mind, as the rules encourage you to do. I will give the heroes 3 traits, 2 positive and 1 to fit the figure's personality and then an extra pilot trait. Random names are provided by the GameMaster's Apprentice Sci Fi deck.

I almost forgot, each hero gets to roll on the "sample loot table" and for every three characters in a group, we roll on the gun table.

Gladiator's Campaign Turn 3: Postponed due to blizzard!

 We are currently experiencing a major storm here in Washington so you'll have to wait for the next installment!

Five Parsecs From Home: Gladiator's Campaign Turn 2

The religious artifact the crew must liberate.

I had to use the special card "Have you met my mate?" in order to scare up some help. There are five one use cards you can use in a campaign. This one in particular lets you get a crew member whenever you need one, even during a battle. Pretty powerful so I'm a little reticent to use it on the second turn. The alternative is to only get one recruit so I opted to use it so that I can recruit two new members and go into battle with four characters.

Note: I did kick Hattie and took her shotgun. She was bad luck anyhow!

Anyway, the campaign turn consisted of Katsuda and Skeet recruiting one member each (total of 6 upkeep). No enemies tracked me down so I had to do an "opportunity mission." I decided on the statue since I wanted a cavern theme.

From left to right: Katsuda, Skeet, Grenda, and Gort.

My opponents: Four vigilantes armed with rifles and the leader with an auto rifle.

The scenario: Locals have hired Katsuda's crew to root out their place of worship, a statue deep within a cavern. Vigilantes have decided to make it their base of operations. The townsfolk have little in the way of weapons, being a peaceful people. Naturally, they have to hire some muscle to take care of their problems once in a while.

Strategy: Try and keep out of sight or at least in cover and close as everyone of my people have 12" range.

The set up

Turn 1:   Quick actions went to Gort who dashed into cover. Katsuda moved into range and opened fire! She hits her man and he's stunned but being a terrifying weapon (probably super loud, especially in the cave), he has to take a morale test at the end of the turn.

Gort makes his move but is out of range with his hand gun.

Katsuda opens fire!...Even if she wasn't supposed to!

The enemy take over and run for cover. The victim of Katsuda's cling fire pistol crawls to relative safety while the leader of the vigilante group and his lackey level their rifles at the blue beauty. Being in cover, the bullets bounce harmlessly off the stalagmites. A few yards over, Gort is fired upon by a vigilante behind the statue but the he's saved by poor marksmanship.

They never said anything about collateral damage to the statue!

Grenda joins the battle with a wild shot after she too moves behind a stalagmite. Skeet dashes up behind cover.

(At this point I realized you can't shoot after dashing. As Katsuda dashed and fired, I decided it wasn't such a terrifying shot and didn't make them test morale. Oops!)

Turn 2: No quick actions this time. Things go very wrong.

Fire erupts once again inside the cave, Katsuda is injured and goes down! Grenda is targeted but the bullets miss. Gort, unfortunately, isn't so lucky. He crumples to the ground!

Uh oh...

Alien down!

The good guy's turn sees Grenda fire again but miss. She's a hacker who lived on a space station after all! Skeet makes a wild charge to one of the bridges hoping for a quick action.

Skeet's last stand.

One morale failure for the good guys!

Turn 3: One quick action goes to Skeet who moves into firing position (1" of extra movement is pretty nice!). He fires his shotgun at the woman behind the statue. One vigilante down!

Skeet caps the lady behind the statue.

Enemy take aim at Grenda and she's not very lucky! She gets shot by the boss man's auto rifle and goes down...Game over! Skeet beats feet as he lost his morale roll. If it's worth anything, the vigilantes also lose their roll. *Sigh*

Post Game:  We got paid 1 credit from the locals. A "thanks for trying" gesture, I guess.

Injuries: Katsuda was just knocked out! Grenda minor injuries and would spend one turn in the tank. Gort suffered a leg wound dropping his speed from 5" to 4.5" and missing one campaign turn.

Experience: Katsuda leveled up! I put the +0.5 into combat. Gort and Grenda each gained 1 exp. Skeet also leveled up! Decided I'd also put 0.5 into his combat score. I think combat is a good stat to dump points in for now since you add your combat score to your shooting dice.

Shopping: I spent 2 creds and got a brutal weapon.

Campaign event: An admirer! I've gained one crew member if I choose but they're unarmed and have no skill advances. I'm guessing they can still get stats from their background rolls? I'll take them as I can always dump them, I suppose.

Character event: Gort got +0.5 reactions as he was taught to always be on the lookout. He may have lost a leg but he gained in wisdom!

Well, that was campaign turn 2! Next turn will see the return of Jibril and Tereg. I can finally do some activities other than recruiting. Until next time!

Five Parsecs From Home: Gladiator's Campaign Turn 1

The press gang...

This battle was played out on Friday night or what I like to call "Friday Night Fights." The wife works until 12:00 am and the kid is in bed by 7:30 pm so I have plenty of free time to set up and not have to worry about little hands grabbing at little figures and buildings. Anyhow, let's not drag on!

Hero deployment. I thought I'd have at least one random figure on guard duty, which happened to be Katsuda.

As I left off, the group was tracked down by a press gang. They are as follows:

Numbers: +0
Morale: 1  (These guys are not very well motivated...Hopefully I can get a quick victory!)
Movement: 4
Combat: 0
Toughness: 3
Fighting Style: Aggressive
Weapons: Handguns
Specialist: Shotgun
Leader: I decided to roll a D6 and on a 1 or 2 the specialist would be the leader, which they were not. So they are armed with a handgun and have the leader package: +1 Combat and Toughness is raised to 4.

Strategy: I want to get as many kills on the goons as I can to try and secure a morale victory. Pretty simple strategy, indeed. These guys seem like the weakest enemies to fight, which is fortunate as this is my first real battle.

Setup: Since neither gang has a weapon that has a range of 12", I started in close to avoid boring movement, which was a mistake!

Turn 1: With everyone set up, let the fighting begin! I rolled for initiative with Quick Actions going to no one.

Scanning the tree line, Katsuda thought she saw a face. No, she was sure now, it was somebody. The distinct sound of a shotgun being readied broke the silence. It was an ambush! "We're under attack! Everybody out!" Before anyone could get set, the press gang was upon them.

Caught out in the open, the crew was helpless. Shots rang out from the bushes and Hattie went down in a pile. More shots rang out, this time Jibril and Tereg dropped as well.

Doesn't look good for our "heroes!"

Herb kicked over the table and quickly took aim at the man with the shotgun. Squeezing the trigger of his blast pistol, Herb nailed him. He shouted something in his alien tongue (probably PWNT!).

Note to self, a strategically placed metal desk can save your life.

Katsuda stood atop the storage container horrified at the carnage below. She shook herself into reality, things were going bad, real fast. She steadied her aim and fired her cling fire pistol. She was almost knocked backwards by the two shots she fired. Peering over the ammunition box in front of her, she saw she blew the ganger's head clear off.

Not just a pretty face, she can also blow your head off!

Censored!

The press gang had had enough. They fled as fast as they came. After a few moments making sure the ambush was over, the sounds of the wounded could be heard. Katsuda tended to the wounded while Herb finished off the man he had shot with a garrote.

Man, that was brutal. All it took was one turn! I guess I shouldn't have set them up so close but it was an ambush so thought it might be appropriate. I expected it to be a short battle with just four scum. A lot of 6's were rolled both during the game and post-game so the dice gods definitely factored into my crews fate.

Post-Battle


Enemy Status: I rolled to see if the press gang remained an enemy. They had had enough leaving me with just three enemies on this planet...Including the dreaded assassins.

Get Paid and Loot Found: We looted 6 credits and a nano-booster off the bodies then, unceremoniously, pitched their bodies in the deeper woods.

Determine Injuries and Recovery:
Jibril suffered minor injuries. He will remain in sickbay for 1 campaign turn.
Hattie also suffered minor injuries and will be out for 1 turn.
Tereg suffered a leg wound. He now has -0.5" movement dropping him to 4". He also has to stay in bed for 1 turn.

Experience:
Kat gained 3 exp for surviving and holding the field.
Herb gained 3 exp for surviving and 1 for getting the first kill.
The rest of the gang got 1 exp each for going into sickbay. Could be worse!

Shopping: I spent 2 creds and got Jibril his hand gun. A nice get well gift!

Campaign Event: We sold off some cargo from our last job and earned 6 creds. Makes sense as we were all from an old mining ship, the Gladiator.

Character Event: Herb had some business to attend to and will be leaving for 2 turns! Nice, bro. Way to leave your leader hanging. When he returns, he'll 1D6 exp. and a roll on the loot table. Looks like I'll be recruiting since it's just down to Kat! Probably have to use the one time use "Have you met my mate?" ability too. I've decided I'll boot Hattie next upkeep as she is a liability with those damn assassins tracking her. I'll keep her shotgun though.

In hindsight, I think I should have recruited a couple of more members. It suggested 5 or 6 but I thought, "nah, I'm a tough guy, I'll just take 5!" Probably should have gone with my gut feeling to get at least 6. Live and learn!

Five Parsecs From Home: The Pre-Battle Campaign Turn and meet the Gladiators!

This is the final post before I get stuck in! I'll quickly go over the pre-battle sequence of the campaign turn and introduce the crew of the Gladiator. I'll show the character stats at the end of this post so it doesn't get all bogged down.

Meet the Gladiators! Decidedly tech savvy and loyal but not well liked...They've got four enemies to start!

Not a fierce looking bunch but hey, that's randomization for ya!

Below is the pre-battle Campaign Turn:

1. Determine if we travel: We're just starting out so won't be traveling any place. We do have a bunch of enemies though so we'll probably get jumped.

2. Pay Upkeep: Paid in full with the starting cash.

3. Assign/resolve crew jobs:

I assign Jibril and Tereg to trade hoping to get some sort of ranged weapon for Jibril. I receive a worthless trinket and some scrap metal worth 1 credit. Maybe I can buy a pistol!

I assign Herb to explore. He chats with someone nice but nothing comes of it.

I assign Kat and Hattie to the range for some training. Each of them gain +1 exp.

4. Assign equipment: Here is what is in my pool of equipment:

Credits: 7

Low-Tech Weapons: Shotgun and x2 Old Fashioned Blades.

High-Tech Weapons: Cling Fire Pistol, Suppression Maul x2, Glare Sword, Blast Pistol, and a Hand Flamer.

Gear: Frag Vest, Assault Attachment (I assume this is the "assault blade") and a Purifier.

Gadgets: Battle Visor

5. Resolve any rumors: None.

6. Play out a table-top battle: I was tracked down by Katsuda's enemy, a press gang.

To be continued...hopefully tomorrow or Friday with a report to follow on Saturday/Sunday.Thanks for reading!

The Gladiators

Katsuda
Reactions: 1
Speed: 4
Combat: 0
Toughness: 3
Tech: 1

Alien Culture: Patron, +1 High-Tech Weapon
Loyalty: Patron (Renegade)
Hacker: +1 Tech, Enemy (Press Gang)
Personal: Old Friend (To be determined later)

Equipment: Cling Fire Pistol (with assault blade attached), Frag Vest, Battle Visor, Old Fashioned Blade

Herb
Reactions: 1
Speed: 4.5
Combat: 0
Toughness: 3
Tech: 0.5

Overcrowded Dystopian City: +0.5 Speed
Loyalty: Patron (Alien Diplomat)
Technician: +0.5 Tech
Equipment: Suppression Maul,  Blast Pistol

Jibril
Reactions: 1
Speed: 4
Combat: 0
Toughness: 3
Tech 1

Tech Guild: +Tech, +1D6 Credits, +1 High-Tech Weapon
Loyalty: Patron (Wandering Preacher)
Punk: +1 Exp., Enemy (Psychos)

Equipment: Suppression Maul 

Hattie
Reactions: 1
Speed: 4
Combat: 0
Toughness: 3
Tech: 1

Tech Guild: +1 Tech, +1D6 Credits, +1 High-Tech Weapon
Freedom: +1 Exp., Enemy (Alien Mercs.)
Agitator: Enemy (Assassins...ouch!)

Equipment: Glare Sword,  Shotgun

Tereg
Reactions: 1
Speed: 4.5
Combat: 0
Toughness: 3.5
Tech: 0

Industrial World: +1 Gear
Survival: +0.5 Toughness
Scoundrel: +0.5 Speed

Equipment: Hand Flamer,  Old Fashioned Blade

Five Parsecs From Home 2nd Edition: Testing the combat rules

Five Parsecs From Home 2nd Edition is a rule set by Nordic Weasel Games aimed primarily at the solo player, although it can be played same-side or even against an opponent. It contains a rich and detailed campaign system that is reminiscent of Mutant and Death Ray Guns but takes it even further with a whole bunch of randomized tables for loot, enemies, etc. The book says it was inspired by the likes of Firefly and Trigun but in reading the rules it definitely makes me think of Necromunda, which I've never played...A shame! I know there's a new version but an $8.00 PDF will do me just fine as opposed to plunking down $100 for a game...well, maybe when I was younger I would! End wild tangent!

 Basically, you start a crew of five or six scoundrels and ruffians who battle it out over harsh deserts, rundown cities, snowy plains, or whatever you have the terrain for; it really doesn't matter where you choose to have the fight as the rules are pretty flexible as far as terrain features. You can even hitch a ride via spaceship to another planet! You roll randomly for things like equipment, your characters background, which might even grant bonus stats and rolls on the equipment table. You can also start with enemies that might just track you down...or you can track them down!

 Combat is pretty basic and I will be testing it here before I delve into a full-blown campaign. This is not a review! As I have not played the game with all elements I can't say if I like it or not. Nothing worse than some guy reviewing something then you come to the end and it states "although I haven't played the game..." Makes me pull my smeggin' hair out! Anyways, here goes the combat rules!

First step: Setting up the terrain. You get to set up terrain anyway you like. I took the advice of T Town Hobby, a fellow blogger and, as far as I know, the only person who has a blog with posts about Five Parsecs From Home 2nd Edition. He recommended setting up terrain conducive to a good story and just whatever looks fun. Here's what I came up with...

Love them catwalks!

Second Step: Deployment. T Town had a pretty cool trick. Lay out six tokens for the enemy in logical places 12 inches apart from the hero spawn points. Take four token and use those for possible hero spawn points. Then just roll for each enemy and hero, placing them in the appropriate numbered area. This is how it looked at the start.

Another angle.

Third Step: Death and destruction! Now the fight begins...I'll caption the photos to let you know what's going on.

Figures on the table.

There are three phases of movement Quick Actions, Normal Actions, and Slow Actions. First you roll a dice for each of your figures. Then you put away any dice higher than their Reactions number. They all start out at 1 but can go up on character creation. Say you roll 5 dice and score 1, 1, 4, 5, and 5. You keep the ones and can assign the Quick Actions to a single figure for each 1 you rolled. The rest have to wait for the Slow Actions phase.

Note: You can move then shoot but not shoot then move. You can, of course, remain in place, shoot, or just move.

The Normal Action phase belongs to the enemy and the Slow Actions are reserved for the rest of your characters. Usually you can move 4" or dash for an extra 2". Any skills can be raised via training and experience so you're not stuck with 4" of movement. Seems slow when you're used to moving 8"!

Line of sight?

Yep!

To shoot you have to be in range and have a line of sight to your target. I did so fired two rounds from my auto rifle adding my combat score of...+0. To score a hit I needed a 6+ as my target was behind cover. You can also hit on 3+ if the opponent is within 3" and out in the open or 5+ if out in the open, within range, and with no cover. You add your combat score to the result. Of course, I missed this flurry of bullets. Starting characters remind me of the opening scene of Star Wars: A New Hope when both sides are blasting away at each other.

Man down!

Eventually you will get a hit or be hit! If a character hits, you roll 1D6 adding any "Damage" from the weapon list. Anything above a character's toughness and they're dead. Anything below and you place a "Stunned" token beside them. These can only be removed at the end of the next character's activation and stunned means you can only move or shoot, not both, and must target the closest threat while shooting. Stunned tokens are cumulative and can only be removed once per character activation.

Now, moving onto melee or "Brawling." Each character rolls 1D6 adding their combat stat and any additional modifiers. The lower guy gets hit and on a draw, BOTH guys take a hit. If you roll a 6 the opponent takes an extra hit. If you roll 1, well then buddy, you take an extra hit. Double 1's means disaster or a particularly brutal slobberknocker! Hits are resolved as in the shooting section.

All in all I had a fun time. I think it would be a lot more fun if my characters were trained up a bit on the combat front. Most shots missed. Was like a bunch of storm troopers running about the board. Also, I think the board would benefit from being 24" x 24", at least for me. Getting right into the action always keeps me interested and I'm more likely to finish a game.

Here are some notable photos from the game!

This guy actually got stunned three times in one turn!

This was the big boss lady for the enemies. She had an auto rifle and +1 to her combat score. She used it well!

Pot shots through the window of a car owned by the bad dudes!

"Choose your targets carefully..."

Boss lady strikes again!