Fringe Space Tutorial

I've gotten some requests for a game of 5150 Fringe Space that looks at the mechanics in more detail.

So I put together a quick one on one game, a fight between a TIE Fighter on patrol and a Rebel ace pilot in an X-Wing.

TIE Fighter--- Fly 4 Fight 4 Fix 4
Hull 1
Fighter
Speed 12
Engine 6
Complexity 3
Armor 1
Mobility 5
2x Light Cannon (Impact 3 Reaction)
1 Crew/Cargo Space

X-Wing--- Fly 5 Fight 5 Fix 5
Hull 1
Fighter
Speed 12
Engine 5
Complexity 3
Armor 1
Mobility 5
2x Light Cannon (Impact 3 Reaction)
2x Torpedo (Impact 9 Missile Action)
1x Crew/Cargo Space

TIE Fighter starts out in the corner at cruising speed (8"). X Wing will move onto the opposite corner at the same speed.

TIE Fighter (Blue) rolls a 6, over its Fly score, so gets 1 Action. X-Wing (Red) rolls a 4, under its Fly score but not a 5, so gets 2 Actions.

Movement Phase: The side that activated 'better' (by rolling higher or by not rolling over) gets to go second in this phase. The TIE Fighter rolled over, while the X Wing did not, so the Tie Fighter moves first. It chooses to Drift, and so moves forward. Note that in maintains its current velocity.

The X-Wing moves onto the board.

Sensor Check: This test is taken simultaneously. The TIE Fighter rolls over its Complexity with all 3 dice, and passes 0. The X Wing passes 2 dice under its own Complexity, also 3. As the X Wing just 'sighted' the TIE Fighter, it takes an In Sight test. It passes both dice beneath its Fight of 5, but is outside of shooting range for all its Reaction weapons.

Command Phase

The X Wing decides to take Evasive Action and then Fires its missiles.
It rolls passes 1 Die against its own Complexity (shown above), and the range between the ships is measured as 40". Because X Wing is going at 8", the TIE Fighter gets one Shoot Down test for every (8"+18") 26", or 2 Shoot Down Tests.

The TIE Fighter, rolling against its own Complexity, passes 1d6 on both tests. This does not take care of either of the X Wing's missiles.

The TIE Fighter successfully passes 2d6 vs the average of Mobility and Fly, and so is not hit by the missiles. It then takes a received fire test, passes 1d6, and Carries On.

The next turn, the X Wing rolls over its Fly score and gets one Action, and so does the TIE Fighter. The X Wing rolled higher, however, so the TIE Fighter goes first in movement and second in command.

The TIE Fighter drifts forward, hoping to use its Action for another attack. The X Wing decides to slow down, going down to 4" a turn, and takes a Fuel check. Passing 1d6, it loses one Fuel. The X Wing figures it has a bigger advantage trying to shoot the TIE at long range, as in a Dogfight the two only have a 1 die difference.

With no remaining Actions, the X Wing is unable to act in the Command phase. The TIE, on the other hand, saved its Action, and can now fire. It misses with both dice, even with the 8, because the two fighters have equal Complexities.

The X Wing passes both dice on a Received Fire test and shoots back.

The X Wing hits with one of its Light Cannons, rolling a 10.

The TIE dodges it (rolling Alien Snake Eyes!)

The TIE fires back and misses, but the X Wing only Carries On on its Received Fire test, ending the turn.

The TIE Fighter rolls a 6, getting only one Action, and the X Wing rolls a 1, getting 2 Actions.

The TIE Fighter uses its Action to accelerate forward a bit, the pilot eagerly hoping to prove his worth by defeating an ace Rebel pilot. Note that the TIE, which accelerated with 4 Speed (to increase to 12" a turn), only goes 10" this turn. Only half of the speed used is effective on the turn it is used, the rest takes effect the next turn. This may sound complicated but is very easy to do, as seen above. The TIE Fighter takes a Fuel Check against its Fix and passes 1d6, losing 1 Fuel.

As the TIE fighter moved to within 12" of the X Wing, the X Wing takes an Engagement Test, and passes 2d6. The X Wing misses, however...

... And the TIE fighter Carries On from its received fire test. The X Wing chooses to shoot once more with an Action but is similarly ineffective, and for its last action the X Wing takes Evasive Action, to try to force the TIE into a Dogfight: The X Wing figures the fight is now inevitable and doesn't want the TIE to get ideas about over shooting and trying to gun the X Wing down from behind.

The next turn, both sides activate with 2 Actions, and the TIE Fighter wins the activation (4 to 1).

The TIE Fighter slows down while the X Wing drifts forward. The TIE again loses 1 Fuel (down to 3).

The TIE then initiates a Dogfight (Down to 2 Fuel... the end result being that, if it survives this dogfight, it'll need to fall back with 1 Fuel and then stop back at base with its final Fuel). 

The X Wing passes 2 dice on its Dogfight Initiation test and shoots at the TIE, but misses.

In the Dogfight, the X Wing has 10 dice (5 Mobility + 5 Fly) and the TIE has 9 (5 Mobility + 4 Fly). Rolling for successes, the X Wing ends up with 2 dice when the TIE has 0. Both of these dice are used to make one of the X Wing's light cannon shots hit (it otherwise would've missed). At this range, the TIE cannot dodge. The Impact 3 Light Cannon (-1 Armor and +5 die roll) causes Heavy Damage.

Now its the X Wing's turn to activate. It starts another Dogfight (down to 3 Fuel) and kills the TIE, this time adding remaining success dice to impact.

The X Wing turns around and accelerates (down to 2 Fuel).

As it turned 180˚ (4 Mobility), it had 1 Mobility remaining... 12" Speed/5 is 2.2 inches per turn (don't worry about little fractions like that... just make it 2 and a half inches) of speed... with 2 Fuel remaining the X Wing drifts back to base with more than enough Fuel to stop and dock.

Thoughts:

Used the new Dodge test. Changed the game a bit, but its a good change... it might bog down really big games, but its only one more test, so its not a big deal. I do think I want to change it slightly, though, so that its a LITTLE easier to get hit... right now, unless you're a pretty slow ship or a bad pilot, its pretty unlikely that you get hit by anything but lasers.

Firefly Characters for New Beginnings

Statted out the Firefly crew for NB... might be useful for others, and 
I also want to make sure I'm not missing obvious character elements/ 
misrepresenting anybody...

Couple of modifications:
1) Serenity's crew is not a bunch of greenhorns, so they all got some 
starting fame, notoriety, and advancement rolls...
2) Some don't have Rep as their primary attribute (Inara has People 
instead, for example). I allowed each character to decide to turn 
another attribute into their 'Rep.' (that is, if they would be Rep 4, 
they could put both 4s in other attributes and make Rep a 2 or 3).
3) I made some new professions (some will likely be the basis of the 
professions eventually featured in the space supplement).

Malcolm Reynolds
Human Male Dropout (Had trouble deciding that one) STAR
Rep: 5
Born Leader, Smooth
Fitness: 4
People: 5
Savvy: 4
Science: 3 (did well on advancement rolls, and fits his medic 
abilities gained during the war)

Fame: 20
Notoriety: 30

Professions:
Smuggler (Pep)-- Free Trader (helps with dealing with interplanetary 
trading and plans)
Soldier (Fit)-- Sergeant (helps with making tactical plans, 
assessments, keeping a team together, that sorta thing).

Zoe
Human Female Mercenary
Nerves of Steel
Rep: 5
Fit: 5
People: 4
Savvy: 3
Science: 0

Fame: 20
Notoriety: 20

Professions:
Soldier (Fit)-- Commando (helps with Stealthy activities and the 
like-- she seems to like sneaking up on her opponents)

Jayne
Human Male Ganger
Greedy
Rep: 5
Fit: 5
People: 3
Savvy: 2
Science: 0

Fame: 10
Notoriety: 20

Profession:
Ganger (Fit)--Hitman (I imagine this as giving him similar advantages 
to the Commando expertise, with perhaps a bit more intimidation 
advantages).

Wash
Human Male LWC
Exceptional Pilot
Rep: 3
Fit: 3
People: 4
Savvy: 5
Science: 2

Fame: 10
Notoriety: 10

Profession: Pilot (Savvy) Small Ships (Hull 3-7) (Note: When using for 
the Space game, you use Savvy for Fix and Fly... but you get negative 
modifiers if you AREN'T a pilot and of the right type. Still, he's a 
Fly 6 in his Firefly, altogether).

Kaylee
Human Female LWC
Exceptional Fixer
Rep: 2
Fit: 3
People: 4
Savvy: 5
Science: 3

Fame: 0
Notoriety: 5

Profession: Ship's Crew (Savvy) Engineer (Same as for pilots, you need 
these sort of professions to be able to operate almost at all on a 
ship).

Book
Human Male Dropout
Charismatic
Rep: 4
Fit: 4
People: 4
Savvy: 3
Science: 0

Fame: 0
Notoriety: 0

Profession:
Religionist (Pep) Preacher
Gunslinger (Fit) Assassin (inferred).

Simon
Human Male LWC
Logical
Rep: 3
Fit: 3
People: 4
Savvy: 3
Science: 5

Fame: 0
Notoriety: 0

Profession: Doctor (Sci) Surgeon

River
Human Female Mercenary (starts out as LWC? switches back and forth? 
She's complicated).
Charismatic
(I designed her like an alien)
Superior Senses
Terrifying
Vicious
Rep: 5
Fit: 4
People: 3
Savvy: 4
Science: 5

Fame: 0
Notoriety: 0

Child (Pep) Leaky Brainpan
Merc (Fit) Spy

Inara
Human Female LWC
Charismatic (not Stunning- note how she is also rather persuasive-- in 
all situations-- with all types of folk)
Rep: 4
Fit: 4
Pep: 5
Sav: 2
Sci: 2

Fame: 30
Notoriety: 0

Escort (Pep) Companion (advantages in knowing how to duel, play 
instruments, whatever)

And finally, the "Tenth Character"

Serenity
Fighterlike
Hull: 5 (basis of crew size, 'build points,' and cargo capacity)
Speed: 10 (how fast you accelerate)
Engine: 6 (how many times you can accelerate before running out of 
propellant or fuel)
Complexity: 4 (sensors, computers, and ECM)
Armor: 3 (how hard you can be hit and live)
Mobility: 3 (how quickly you can change facing)

I'm planning on doing some more of these for other things I've got 
models for... maybe some more Firefly characters (the bad guys?), Mass 
Effect characters, Star Wars.... its fun!

Operation Blackjack- 5150 Star Army

So, an update, because its been awhile.

My power's been out for a week or so, and I just got it back... and just before losing power I got in a game of 5150 Star Army... and I remembered to take pictures! Some may remember this as a distant sequel to a small game of 5150 Book 1 I posted to the THW yahoo group almost a year ago... that is, its set in the same universe, at about the same time, during the same war.

In other news, I've been extremely busy in October... so no Winston Brasil adventures, rare playtesting of the Space game (really need a better name for that...), but there's been a little progress, and things are starting to settle down again.

Anyway, here's the batrep...


LOCATION:
The Andromeda Galaxy, Paradise Sector, within the Twin Suns Emipre.
TancoKrav, an approximately Earth sized planet with one moon that is 
also inhabited- Shiloh.
This fight takes place on Shiloh, which is pretty much the quintessential American Southwest Desert Planet. water is fairly scarce, plants are mostly small shrubs, and the ground is a dusty red. 


SITUATION:
For the past 15 years, TancoKrav has been having a religious movement, 
The True Word of Boris the Prophet, sweep across its lands. 5 years 
prior to the war, the majority of TancoKravians had converted, and 
they established a theocracy, headed by Boris Masia, the Prophet.
TancoKrav had been a protectorate of the Twin Suns Empire for nearly a 
century, and had been a vital resource and trade partner. The TSE 
viewed the declaration of a new government that did not accept 
advisors from the TSE as an act of rebellion, and issued an ultimatum 
to the new government, telling them to stand down, dismantle their 
military, and submit to TSE rule; this time without the benefit of 
autonomous rule.

The TancoKravians responded by blowing up the TSE embassy in their 
capital, and prepared for war.

That was 20 months ago.

Quickly the TSE realized that they could win with the help of the 
Shilohs, who had declared their independence from TancoKrav as soon as 
TK had established its theocracy. The Shiloh had always been fiercely 
independent, and though some Shiloh (relatively few) had converted to 
the new religion, none wanted to be run by TK in the first place, let 
alone by a non-democratic government.

Shiloh itself is a rough frontier world. It has a fairly low 
population, but the rough lifestyle and relatively frequent rebellions 
against whoever their current ruler is has resulted in a good 
population for fighting wars. They don't like the TSE, but they prefer 
the relatively distant and relaxed rule that TSE would grant them than 
to be imperialized by TK's dictatorship, and so have allied themselves 
with the TSE.


TIME:
1730, local time. The 26 hour day of Tancokrav was the basis of timekeeping on Shiloh, but as a show in independence Shiloh has adopted the "Empire Standard 24 hour day." As a moon, times and dates are often skewed by the orbit of Tancokrav and Shiloh itself. In short, this battle takes place from about sunset to the end of twilight.


DATE:
The far future. About nine years before Sgt. Llewellyn became a space 
pirate captain.


WEATHER: The sky is a swirling mix of light blue, gold, purple, and red. Shiloh is known for its beauty, especially around sunrise and sunset. There are a few clouds in the sky. Soldiers have clear LOS at this time, as it is still light and there isn't enough moisture for fog or rain at the moment. It is winter currently, and the temperature is 53ºF, slowly dropping as the sun descends.


SCENARIO: After heavy back and forth fighting on Tancokrav, the Twin Suns Empire and Shiloh seemed near victory. Suddenly, however, it seemed that TK got an influx of weapons, soldiers, and much better supplies. The TSE and Shiloh quickly lost ground on TK itself, and by the 18 month mark of the war TK was ready to bring the fight to the enemy.


The key to planetary invasion is to establish aerospace superiority over a large enough area that you can transport troops without fear of being shot down. Even then, cost is extremely high, and the enemy doesn't need to pay for anything other than boots. Fortunately for the attacker, even a single ship can rain extremely heavy fire down upon any large troop movements, which essentially puts both sides in the position of fighting guerilla warfare. Shiloh is also fairly low in population, so many of Tancokrav's enemies are also being shipped in from even greater distance. 


Tanco Krav has set up in a mountainous area of Shiloh, with their base of operations essentially being in a valley surrounding on all sides by 3 mountains. Heavy AA cover coordinated by listening posts deeper in TSE territory mean that Twin Suns soldiers are forced to climb treacherous cliffs while under mortar and sniper fire. 


3 days ago, the Twin Suns Empire was able to bring a passing battleship into the system. The ship was in transit back towards the TSE's interior sectors, and staying any longer than 2 weeks would upset the New Macedonians (who are a rising power in Paradise Sector), but at least the Tancokrav spaceships are grounded during this time to prevent the battleship from picking them off at long range with its lasers. 


This provided an opportunity for the Twin Suns Empire to try to get rid of the Tancokrav beachhead on Shiloh.


Two thousand of Shiloh and Twin Suns Empire troops surround the mountain area, and start special forces squads are sent out on recon, supported by the mechanized Shiloh Rough Riders and Twin Suns Empire Marines close by. Though the Tancokravians are outnumbered, most of the Twin Suns Empire troops are kept back until these first strikes establish a foothold on the mountains.


OBJECTIVE: 
Recon the area with Twin Suns Special Forces and then clear it with mechanized infantry.


TERRAIN:

Seen here are some of the foothills of the three mountains, the outskirts of Tancokrav's control. 
The area shown is about 150 by 225 yards. In the North West corner of the area there is a small visible outpost, but its much larger underground. It dates back to Shiloh's earliest colonial era. 


As can be seen, the ground is uneven, providing lots of cover. (I'm using 'true LOS,' including soldiers blocking LOS, for the first time in a long time... it REALLY enhanced the game! Made squad tactics much more important).


The ruins on the Eastern side of the table are of suspected Precursor origin, as it is unknown how they got there. They have not been studied.


The TSE Special Forces team is walking in on the South East corner of the table. This being one of the largest gaps into the valley that contains most of the TK forces, the area is likely to be crawling with TK patrols.


THE FORCES:
TWIN SUNS AND SHILOH JOINT FORCE:

TSE Marines with their IFV

Shiloh Rough Riders with their Traveller transport.

In the distance-- Twin Suns Empire Special Forces

The Marines and Rough Riders are all Rep: 4. Marines use Star Army stats and HBA while Rough Riders use PDF. Sgt. Llewellyn leads the Rough Rider squad, and is Rep 5. 

The Marines are led by Sgt. Marcus Chen, who is Rep 4.

The TSESF are all Rep 6 (rolled on the ISS table) with Exo Armor and Rapid Fire Laser. They are led by Captain Jailus Ban Rabia. Second in command (and the grenade launcher) is Ed "Sue" Seward. The team is filled out by Tami Nai'Ho and Jake Nordehaus. They all have "Stealth" which makes them invisible at 36" and invisible at 12" if stationary (and prone or in concealment). Enemy also always has -1 Rep on in sights at range beyond 12" regardless of circumstances.

The IFV has a light projectile cannon and HMG, while the Traveller has a rocket launcher and light beam cannon.

TANCOKRAV FORCES:

Unknown.

WHAT HAPPENED:

Rust colored sand swirls low to the ground in the slight wind, disturbing the small shrubs that barely eke out an existence on Shiloh's rough landscape.

A Viatsi lying in the slight shadow lifts his hooded head and looks around. As he moves his red hood and dark armor become distinguished from the ground, as if the Viatsi had just emerged from the ground.

"Break is over. Fan out and prepare to move North." He whispers with a slight accent into his comms. Three more figures grow from the ground as they sit up into a crouch. "Look alive, this place is crawling Tancokravians."

"Alright, let us move."

"Captain Rabia, ruins to the North." Seward says.

"Nordehaus, follow me to the ruins. Seward, Nai'Ho, cover us."

Captain Rabia looks around, "We are going to move North another hundred yards or-"

"Contact West!" Nordehaus' voice cuts over the comms.

"Looks like a squad o' T-K's... they can't see us." He adds.

"Wait a moment... I am seeing some movement just North of those Tancokravians." Rabia says.

"This is strange...  not a Tancokravian uniform..." He turns a dial on the side of his goggles and the zooms in on the distant figure walking across the desert. "Red and black..."

"We've got a few more to the North... heavy infantry with laser rifles." Sue cuts in.

"Red and black... Perhaps they are mercenaries?" Nai'Ho suggests.

"CONTACT NORTH! IFV! Everyone get down!" shouts Sue as a small IFV roars into view just a few dozen yards to the North of the special forces. 

"Adaina..." grunts Nai'Ho as he throws himself against the wall. 

"Seward we've been spotted, take it out!"Rabia shouts.

The IFV's turret turns towards the squad as Seward leans out from cover and aims the grenade launcher. Bullets impact the wall and ground all around the squad as the IFV's attached infantry open up at their unseen foes, and the IFV starts spraying bullets from its HMG just to try to pin the squad down. 

Seward pulls the trigger. the surface of the IFV explodes, but the vehicle appears to be undamaged.

"Armor's too thick, sir!" 

"This is Bravo-3, we need assistance!" 

"Brech Ate Adaina..."

"Stay down!"

The IFV pulls back a bit behind a small hill crest while its infantry get cover themselves after seeing the grenade blast.

Tancokravian Mechanized Infantry take cover.

Sgt. Llewellyn listens to the transmissions. "Alright, Plan B. Time to get over there." He signals the Traveller pilot to move in for a quick landing south of the TSESF position.

The Tancokravian soldiers scramble for cover as the Traveller rises up over the mesa. One shoots a rocket that just barely misses the Traveller, which responds with a beam that blasts the soldier to pieces. Bullets whiz around the Traveller as it lands. 

"Sergeant, that's a hot L-Z. Good luck with the T-K's!" shouts the pilot over the din of battle.

Sgt. Llewellyn leaps out of the transport and is immediately angered at the choice of LZ. Leave it to a Twin Suns pilot to choose a kill zone, he thinks.

Bullets whiz around the Rough Riders, who take cover along the crest of the mesa and respond with as much fire as they can put out. 

"Where are the Marines? We need help clearing this LZ!"

"Hold in there Sgt. Llewellyn, we're on our way."Sgt. Chen says.

The Rough Riders, limited by the tight mesa tip they are stuck on, are only able to get a few of their men to fire at any one point, due to blocking their own sight. Still, the two SAWs are able to make the T-K's think twice about responding. One T-K is shot through the chest, but the bullets hitting him look no different than the poofs of red dirt thrown up by the other impacts.

The zooming sound of a moving vehicle cut through the gunfire.

Pvt. Joens pushed his upper body up to look. "Gareth, look's like the calvary's done arrived!"

The rhythmic booming sound of an autocannon shook the battlefield as the IFV tore the Tancokravians at the base of the mesa to shreds.

"Woohoo!" 

"Hell yeah!"

"Say it again!"

"Yeehaw!"

The collective elan of the Rough Riders shines despite the dirt covering their coats.

Red and Black armored soldiers, about to ruin someone's day.

Tancokravians in firefight with Rough Riders (seen at the far end on the hill)

One of the Rough Riders gets thrown back by a laser rifle's impact on the ground.

 "Damn!" he cries as he clutches a hurt arm.

Llewellyn poked his head up to look at the fairly distant IFV that seemed to be the main source of fire.

"Chen, take out that IFV, 150 yards North."

"Standby."

"Brace yourself..."

Boomshakalaka.

The IFV explodes in a poof of smoke and the soldiers in cover behind it are knocked over by the force, but start getting back up and rolling back into cover immediately.

"That's a kill. We're going to disembark now, Llewellyn, give us cover." Chen says through the comms.

The Red and Black soldiers run to engage the Marines and Rough Riders, and open up on them with Rapid Fire Lasers and Grenades.

"Damn, these guys are a step up!"

Two Rough Riders are knocked out by the heavy fire.

Sgt. Llewellyn pulls one of the injured back from the firing line and crawls forward, aims carefully, and fires a three round burst into one of the soldiers. Though dust and sparks were kicked up by the impact, the man barely seemed to notice the impact. 

"Shit, they've got armor. This is up to you, Chen!"

"Don't worry, we're engaging."

Though the coordinated laser fire of the marine squad was able to make a few of the armored soldiers duck back and take slight wounds, they were unable to take any out. But the fire on the Rough Riders lessened.

Meanwhile, the Special Forces were still taking heavy fire, but the line of Tancokravians at the hill crest were mostly armed with small arms that could not penetrate their armor, so the special forces decided to go on the offensive, and were able to push back the enemy squad except a single SAW gunner and one injured soldier who didn't have a friend to carry him. While the mechanized infantry fell back to some rocks a dozen meters back, the heavy infantry with lasers moved up on the Eastern flank to try to go in for the kill... meanwhile, some Red Hats, elite Tancokravian religious infantry, appeared to the Northwest and made the special forces squad duck back into the ruins.

Braving the laser fire, Nai'Ho and Nordehaus move up with cover fire from Seward and Captain Rabia. They hide behind the hill crest formerly used by the T-K soldiers. The heavy T-K infantry move up on both sides, with cover fire from the Red Hats. 

The heavy infantry and SAW gunner nod to one another and pop up over the crest, but the Special Force's quick reaction times allow them to gun down or suppress all of them.... but Nai'Ho is hit by a bullet from the SAW that penetrates his armor, and he goes down.

"I am hit! G'argh.... I can not move my leg!"

Meanwhile, the Red Hats' fire blows off a chunk of wall that falls on Seward...

"Sue!" shouts Rabia as he runs over to help him up. 

"I'll be alright," says Seward as he stands, "But I'll need help walking."

Meanwhile, in the firefight between the Red and Black soldiers and the TSE forces, the TSE Marines are starting to take some slight injuries. The Red and Black soldiers recognize that their line is collapsing, however, and start to fall back, carrying their injured and collecting as much of their materiel as possible, as if trying to avoid identification.

"About time!" Shouts Chen over the comms, as his unit changes position to get a better view of infantry assaulting the Special Forces' position.

"Alright, everyone back on the transport! We got them with their tails between their legs..." Sgt Llewellyn says as he waves his men back into the Traveller, carrying three wounded on stretchers.

The Traveller takes off, zooming North and shooting at the Red Hats the whole way-- the other Tancokravian forces were all falling back, but Red Hats never retreat.

The Red Hats, hopelessly outgunned, are quickly massacred by the beam cannon's deadly rays. 

The remaining T-K's, huddled together behind cover with many injured, establish a base of fire to let most of them fall back, and before long they have all run back into the valley.

Silence came slowly.

The sky started becoming dark.

There is only the cold sound of dark desert winds and the rare sound of very distant gunfire.

"That's all she wrote." Llewellyn says calmly into the comms.

Rabia responds, "Yes, no more Tancokravians in the area. Lets set up positions and wait for the dawn assault."

"Hell," grunts Llewellyn, "I'm fixin' to catch some shut eye before that."

Ogre (IN SPAAAACE!)

Decided to play a quick battle the other day. No planets, no space junk, no nothing.
The base idea was a laser battle ship (with some missiles, as well, but definitely a focus on the laser) versus a small fleet of ships- a corvette, a frigate, and some fighters, with a mixture of missiles, "cannon-missiles" (the old cannons have been replaced with somewhat more effective weapons that basically are guns with seeker bullets...), and a small laser.

So, of course, the battle ship, a Gaea Prime patrol ship, was named Ogre.

Ogre is steadily flying through a well travelled wormgate, heading towards the Fifth Ring. Its powerful laser, an expensive weapon, makes it a good weapon of domination. If Gaea Prime can get through to its colonies in the Fifth Ring, it will provide a powerful defensive and offensive weapon that can be used to influence the entire Ring.

Unfortunately, there are many independent planets within the Fifth Ring. Several of them have put together their small amount of resources to form a strike team to try to prevent Ogre from making it to its destination. In a straight up fight, Ogre would be able to outrange this small fleet, but due to the highly travelled and civilian nature of much travel through this wormgate, they can avoid being shot at until they get within range.

Ogre is traveling alone for gameplay balance because the mission was meant to be secret until the ship arrived- Ogre is trying to pass off as a regular patrol ship, not an artillery weapon. Unfortunately, rebels within Gaea Prime have contacted some of their friends...

Ogre is in the lower right hand corner,  while the strike team is in the upper left hand corner. Note my clever idea of combining the Ship Stats Card with the "stand," so that all the info (even vector) is given by a quick glance.

The ships approach each other.

Ogre's sensors note that these particular "merchant ships"  are getting oddly close....

The Strike Team, knowing that at this point they are pushing their luck, decide to engage (they could've waited even longer, but would risk losing their 'first shot' advantage).

The corvette (Y-Wing) shoots off all of its missiles in one volley (using the new missile rules that don't require you to track the missiles but still allow them to be shot down), which are quickly shot down by Ogre's main laser. In response, Ogre fires all of its missiles at the corvette, hoping to beat the frigate's (the  Bird of Prey) light laser. They do, and, due to the corvette's weak armor, easily obliterate it.

The Captain notes that it was not wise to do this, as, had they taken the time to identify the enemy's weapons and calculate the number of missiles needed (far fewer than they shot), they could've had more missiles for later. But, in the spur of the moment, the reaction (hint hint) was instinctive, as the gunners tried to take out the enemy as quick as possible without finding out the best way to do so.

Meanwhile, the remaining ships of the strike team accelerate forward a bit (using the new fuel rules) and start shooting their weapons at long range, causing nothing but a scratch in Ogre's shiny metallic paint job.

Unfortunately for the Strike Team, the laser keeps firing, incinerating a Fighter (or a fighter squadron... depends on your views on scale).

It probably would've been wise for the Strike Team to wait to engage Ogre at all, as they could've gotten very close before Ogre would open fire... but then there is a higher chance that more of them would've died without ever firing a shot as they tried to keep their cover. 

The next activation again went to the Strike Team, and Ogre decided to stay back again, conserving fuel and trying to keep the enemy distant without endangering the overall goal of getting to the destination on time (getting there on time is extra important now that people will know that Ogre is coming).
Due to relatively low fuel and a need to get back home (if they survive), the strike team doesn't accelerate, and instead continues to fire on Ogre, going forward at a steady pace.

Their fire starts causing problems for Ogre, causing more external damage to various systems (some thrusters were damaged, reducing acceleration, and a small fuel leak caused some additional movement problems). On the other hand, Ogre's main laser continues to shoot down targets, killing another fighter and the frigate, reducing the Strike Team to two fighters.

This picture makes most hard SF fans cry.

The final assault begins! having gotten close to a now slightly damaged Ogre, the remaining ships intend to avoid fire and get highly accurate shots into sensitive areas.
Of course, this is a world of (cinematic) realism, so its not going to be easy.

The dogfight initiates, though Ogre totally fails its response test and doesn't get a good shot until the close range attack begins.

The dice are added up, similar to how Melee works in most THW games, and successes are counted.

The dogfight system was adjusted slightly before this game to balance it a bit (make it less powerful while still being different than regular combat). With some skillful maneuvering, avoiding the singular main weapon of Ogre, one of the fighters gets a shot off (with bonus Impact!) at the Ogre... and pushes it into Light Damage! In addition, special damage effects (2 at once, in fact) causes some of Ogre's armor to be chipped away (making future attacks more likely to damage) and causes a violent shake that kills one of the chief gunnery officers! (reducing Fight statistic).

The winners of a dogfight get to adjust position and vector, to an extent.

Things are starting to look bad for Ogre, but the Strike Team is almost out of fuel.
The next turn sees another dogfight while ogre continues to try to shoot down the remaining fighters. Luckily for Ogre, it takes out one of the fighters. However, the remaining fighter once again succeeds in the dogfight and gets another Light Damage on Ogre... bumping it up to Heavy Damage and causing more special damage effects, including the knocking out of Ogre's main thrusters! its immobilized (and can only turn very slowly).

Ah, and then the realism hits. The remaining fighter is making its final attack run, causing more and more damage by nailing the vulnerable parts of Ogre.... and the pilot notices its almost out of fuel. The pilot starts changing vector, knowing that going back towards base at a slow speed will allow the ship to still have the fuel necessary to come to a stop... but it has to leave Ogre unkilled (its a sitting duck, now, so it could've possibly done it). 

Instead of a heroic sacrifice, the fighter accepts the slight victory (at least Ogre is greatly slowed down, though most of the damage is of the field repairable sort) and gets ready for the slightly long trip home.

The crew of Ogre gets to work on fixing up those engines....

The game only took 30 minutes to play, though it wasn't a very complex battle (did use most of the more specialized rules in one go, however). 

I think this game is going well. Its got a sort of 'cinematic realism.' Its not how space combat is actually going to be, most likely, at least not for most eras, but it combines a sort of realism (vector movement, vaguely realistic weapons and ships, etc) with a cinematic feel (daring combat, fleets of ships slugging it out in space, small ships have a balance with big ships, and so on), and I think that fits THW's style.

On one hand, THW has fairly realistic rules, where characters act realistically due to reactions, and tactics are realistic due to 'real time' simulated by Reactions. On the other hand, the fights are cinematic, with Stars being the most obvious example. 

I think this game takes a similar idea- it has room for the 'realistic' tactics that most hard SF fans think will come up, but it also has room for the space heroes zoom around in ships and have fun.

In more literary terms, I think its a sort of reconstruction of 'fun' space combat. It says, yes, ships don't move like boats or airplanes, and the tactics are all different from those, and war is cold, but, with the right balance of technologies and powers, it still results in an exciting, fast paced combat game where tactics and decisions matter, there is a human element, and ships and weapons are balanced in interesting ways.

Scenario Generator Concept

Well, its been awhile!
I've been a bit busy for the past several weeks, and then took a vacation in Maine, which I got back from only yesterday.

However, with slight tweaks, I did get to find out that the new armor/damage system works very well and, in a strange, arbitrary way, I get more fun out of it. I did have to actually raise weapon damage slightly for it to work, however (this was a design oversight), so that smaller weapons could still chip away at somewhat larger ships.

In addition, the adjusted fuel/action rules work well and really streamline play, and also allow for a couple of new options. I also found that I had to increase the amount of fuel ships had to start with. I also came up with some alternate rules (well, slightly modified) for 'realistic' campaigns where you automatically lose SOME fuel, but still take fuel checks to avoid wasting fuel. The rules make me think of Destination Moon.

One change I definitely had to make was generally increasing crew's Fly, Fight, and Fix scores. In the final game, a military ship would never have a score of 3 for more than one, and even then that would imply a bad crew.

At this point I'm working more on special weapons/defenses and other systems, ship attributes (not unlike the attributes in CR3, but for ships...), and the ship design system (I have two in competition, not sure which I like more).

Also, the campaign and scenario rules, the subject of this post.

It occurred to me, as I sat upon the top of Cadillac Mountain eating lobsters and blueberries (or so I'm told, the Maine trip was rather fast and turned into something of a blur), that scenario design basically comes down to the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How.

Who: Whatever models you're using
What: Killing each other
Where: Your table
When: After work, before sleep
Why: Hopefully its fun
How: This is what you find out when you play

That would be the normal standup fight scenario, when there is no story behind a game.
More story driven games have those W's replaced by bits of story. Who becomes Captain Kirk and Mr Spock against the Klingons, Where becomes Alpha Centauri II, and so on.

This is far from groundbreaking, and this exact idea of using the 5 W's (and the H) has been used (well, at least mentioned) in THW games before.

Of course, this applies more or less equally to campaigns and scenarios.
The big idea I had, though, was that you could use the  5 W's as changing factors on a scenario generator.

For example, say you have your ship traveling between two planets, A and B, in the 3rd month of your campaign. Along the way, you check to see if you get an encounter.... and you do!

So you fill out the 5 W's, probably in this order:
1)When: The 3rd Month and Where: Between A and B
2) What: (Rolling on a chart) A deserted ship!

So now you know, as you travel between A and B in the 3rd month since getting your ship, you detect a deserted ship! Why the ship is there and Who is on the ship (or used to be, or who made it this way... its all possible) are not determined yet, it depends on How you interact with it.

Do you board it? Then you'll quickly find out (as you go room to room) Who is or is not on the ship. Randomly generated "Info Markers" will give you more, well, info, representing finding computers, papers, diaries, whatever.... you find out:

Who: The ship was a small colonization ship with a dozen colonists on board, and they are nowhere to be found.
Why: The ship was attacked by pirates!
In addition, you find an addition to the What: The ship was carrying extremely valuable cargo!

Now, at the point you find out about the pirates, and discover they are not still on board (or on a ship very nearby) then you sort of 'start over.' Now you know the following:
Who: Pirates
What: have stolen treasure, possibly prisoners
Where: Perhaps known, perhaps not.... if you are totally lacking information in such an important area, you get an automatic clue that lets you get 'on the trail.' That is, you might not know they are on Planet C, but you know you can find out if you interrogate a guy on Planet B.
When: Now!
Why: Probably because they are pirates, but there could be other reasons... you'll need to find out more when you get to the pirate's hide out.

How do you deal with this? Chase the pirates? find out more info at a pirate haven? Whatever...

Anyway, the adventures sort of expand as you go into them. At each layer there will probably be rewards and risks (rarely will a layer only contain more info to get to a new layer, as that is just padding the length of an adventure), and as things get more dangerous the higher the chance will be that this is the final layer, at which point you get the big rewards for success (That is, you finally find the treasure.... which is most likely to happen after you generated 24 pirates with power armor and Rapid Fire Lasers than after generating a single pirate with a  pistol as the guards).

It would be an interesting scenario generator, I think.... and good for campaigns. I think you could also build in red herrings and have mystery elements that would work (even though it doesn't KNOW if he killed the guy, and not the red alien, if you find info that suggests it, you could make the chance increase.... though there is still the chance he is a red herring built in).

The issue would be more in complexity. It might take awhile to write, and you could end up with a few weird situations... though its relatively easy to fix, once you find a problem.

I'm also sure that this will be adjusted to match up with the system that New Hope City or New Beginnings is using.... which, luckily, seems to not be that different than the one I'm describing.

The TRUE issue has more to do with making the W's fit into anyone's game.... they'll need to be somewhat vague (so that they all work together, no matter what the order, and so that they work in any setting.... the player will need to fill in gaps, but it shouldn't be hard most of the time).

I think the best way to do that would be to have the TIGU (Traveller Inspired Generic Universe) that most sci fi gamers seem to use in mind when I write the scenario bits.

Thoughts?