5 Parsecs – The Crash Site

Club member Marcus reports on another solo game of 5 Parsecs from Home.

The crew of the “Pi” have had some scares so far but come out about as far ahead as an independent crew of scoundrels starting out in a big universe can expect so far. Turn 3  starts with payment of upkeep and debt on the ship. San and Nira trade for some contraband. There is a risk that they could acquire a rival as a result (law enforcement perhaps or a rival gang?)  but they get away with it and gain 3 CR. Kel and Wellington explore and pick up a shotgun. Always handy! More importantly they gain a rumour “Meet someone interesting…” In a darkened corner of a relic emporium a wizened alien gives them a strange token following a curious discussion over purchasing some old charts. It’s handed over with the words “Perhaps you can make use of this too…key to the temple, or so they say…” Wellington looks at the ancient looking etched cube in his hand with a curious look. “I have seen something like this before, but I can’t remember where…” perhaps it is just what it looks like, a curious old piece of junk. Perhaps not.

Meanwhile Pascal does some schmoozing and finds a new patron with an offer of a job which must be completed this turn or the next. Your patron has been double crossed in a shady information bartering transaction. The perpetrator has however crashed on a shuttle in the southern forests. Eliminate him and the knowledge he carries. It has the benefit of giving access to the company stores for supply purposes. Ultimately this produces a roll which generates 1 CR of scrap! “I told you that was a load of rubbish Pascal!” Very disappointing. This job also a significant hazard. The crew will face veteran opposition at -1 to panic.

They don’t yet know it but they will face the threat of the “Converted” infiltrators. Their opponents appear normal (as normal as anyone looks in this galaxy of diverse lifeforms!) but are part of the cyborg hive mind advance party…there’s a threat of invasion and galactic war!

You can see the Converted moving in from the north-west quite apparently quite close to the wrecked stealth shuttle. The crew can be seen at the south centre. The yellow counter is a randomly generated “curious item”, worth 1 CR if picked up)

The first couple of turns are spent moving in on the location of the crash. Despite the initial proximity of the converted to the site both crews converge at the location almost simultaneously with San and Kel spotting their opponents.

Rolling a 12355, Kel and Nira act. Kell moves and shoots against an opponent in the open rolling a 6! However, a damage roll of 2 leaves the opponent stunned (yellow counter). Nira moves and shoots the leader in the open with a 5. A damage roll of 4 equals the leader’s toughness for a kill (red token)! The enemy return fire, mainly at Nira, but fortunately they all miss. Just. San now opens up with his plasma rifle and hits. His plasma rifle does +1 damage and the resulting 6 kills another converted.  Veyon and Wellington search the shuttle but don’t locate the target, who has taken cover near a bulbous headed insanity plant.

In turn 4 a bad roll means that the crew all move after the converted, who don’t panic because they are (veteran) cold, calculating cyborgs. However, a volley of fire yields no results for the converted as they target San and Nira. Veyon in stealth gear (-1 to enemy shooting) moves into position. She also uses a sonic emitter which impacts enemy rolls with 5” by -1. Veyon shoots with no damage but gets two stuns on her target. Neither San nor Kel can get a hit. Nira rashly charges into close combat trusting in her lethal boarding sabre. Amid the melee of flailing sharp blades perhaps it is the cybernetics that give her opponent the edge, but Nira goes down. She survives the toxic effects of the planet but is a casualty and out of the action.

Turn 5 and having seen Nira go down an angry Kell blasts away at the remaining enemy but misses. They respond by firing at Veyon. She seems certain to be killed but somehow dives to safety (a luck point used, otherwise she would have been toast!) Wellington meanwhile has tracked the target who has moved some way from the shuttle. He shoots but misses. Veyon now return fire at the last of the e. A 5 hit and 5 damage see the last of them go down.

Wellington ultimately brawls with the target and brings the filthy traitor down too.

Far from an easy mission, both Nira and Kel nearly “bought it” (I used a story point to save Nira from a gruesome death). The crew pick up an extra 2 CR danger pay and 8 CR for completing the job. With the infiltrator converted wiped out, there is no evidence of the crew’s involvement and the Converted do not become rivals as a result. The crew also picked up something on the battlefield, a “personal item”. Perhaps representing a time before one of the enemy was converted. There is a chance this can be returned to a relative on visiting a future world, which would be worth a roll on the loot table.  In addition the crew gather some loot – Damaged weapons: a ripper sword and 3 frak grenades.

Experience; Everyone gains +3 except Nira who gets +5. Level-up: Nira, Kell and Veyon get +1 combat and Wellington +1 tough. They purchase a military rifle for 3 CR. Finally there is another chance meeting in a bar…(where else?). Could be an addition to the crew perhaps?

5 Parsecs – The Package

Club member Marcus reports on a solo game (with the editor’s apologies to Marcus  for the delay in getting this onto the blog).

As Pi in the Sky has blasted off from Palacco, we entered a new campaign turn. Firstly, space travel. I rolled a “It’s not supposed to make that sound…”.   Fortunately, Veyan rolled a success “but I know exactly what it is…just realign the phase couplers.” That could have been unfortunate, but instead the Pi arrived on Enout, a wild frontier world classed as dangerous.  Upkeep paid and ship debt increased to 22 Cr.

While Veyan and Pascal failed to attract any new patrons, Kell came up with a useful contact +1. Wellington traded for some basic supplies (-1 upkeep in turn 3). San (with a roll on the loot table) traded for…something interesting. A further roll identified this to be a military ship part; a 3Cr discount on the next ship component bought.  The crew already had a Patron mission lined up. This would be in a toxic environment (+1D6 roll + savvy when stunned or the character becomes a casualty). The mission: to deliver a package to the centre of the table, an abandoned facility. Unknown criminal elements have an interest.

I didn’t fancy setting up the opponents at one edge and posed some questions to players online. There are alternative deployment options in an expansion, but I opted to set up my own. I created my own random table and rolled for set up. The criminals in deployed in 3 groups utilizing a clock face method around the centre at roughly one, three, five, seven, nine and eleven o’clock. One group was also delayed in deploying.

The crew (pictured above) entered from the south – east corner. As luck would have it, the opposition deployed a group of two very close to them, with three on the diametrically opposite side of the board.

The table

The crew gain the initiative and Veyon, Pascal move into positions in the first phase.  Kel preps for snap fire, but no target manifests as no opposition appears immediately. The rest of the crew also move forward. In turn two both Pascal on the right and Nira and Wellington on the left seek to outflank an emerging threat amid the heavy jungle. Kel gets a close shot at Mant (a Rebel miniatures ant man) but misses, as does Veyon. Mant’s pal Worake (half worm, half snake) works its way forward.

Mant & Worake
Kell snipes at Mant & Worake

The third criminal group were now due to deploy. By chance they also deployed in close proximity to the crew in the south-east.

More antagonists deploy

In turn three Kell snipes unsuccessfully at Worake who shoots back at Kell, but he has the benefit of camo gear and blends into the jungle. Pascal spots the new intruders but in an exchange of fire goes down wounded.

Pascal is hit!
Standoff!

In turn 4, seemingly stung by the wound sustained by Pascal, the crew get their act together. Veyon targets Worake, hitting with a 5 and a damage roll of 6+1 puts Worake down. San similarly spots the newly arrived female gunslinger (Toogun) and despatches her and while her accomplice, Lazard (the lizard man) man responds, he misses. Veyon also gets a second shot and puts down Mant.

Kell gets a close-up shot using his blast pistol but misses even at close range. Wellington and Nira moved further up on the left concealing themselves in a grove of plants.

Nira & Wellington move up on the left

In turn 5 the crew got a good roll allowing Kel to aim and take a shot at Lazard. The opponents who deployed in the south-east are all put out of action. Meanwhile Nira and Wellington are hidden in the path of the remaining criminals and spring an ambush.

Ambush!

Nira scores a 6 to floor Hawk-man. One of the two remaining opponents, after squeezing off a couple of wild shots in the general direction of Nira, has already seen enough and decides to bug out on a morale roll. With only one opponent still in the game, Nira gains the benefit of a first-round action and with a well-aimed shot brings down the last of the opposition.

Delivery

While the crew successfully meet their contacts and deliver the package, what of Pascal?

Post Battle:

Despite the outcome of this battle this criminal enterprise clearly does not relish taking on the crew again as they don’t want to become rivals. The crew get paid 9 Cr. The crew also find a curious data stick which will provide them with a quest rumour. They also pick up another blast rifle.

Pascal’s injury initially proved to be nothing to serious, just a turn in sick-bay. However, I forgot about the toxic environment. Subsequently I remembered to roll this. Pascal failed forcing me to use a story point to keep him in the game. Pascal is after all an interesting character. I was reluctant to lose him. “That infection you picked up in the jungle gave us a scare Pascal.  We thought we had lost you…”

Naturally, everyone picked up experience points. We didn’t try any training or find any purchases worth making except…

Finally, campaign events: An alien merchant offers a strange artifact. How can we resist for 4 Cr? A quick roll on the loot table leads us to the rewards table and ship parts; roll for value: 1 Cr! Easy come easy go…

 

 

 

 

Five Parsecs: The First Mission

Marcus begins his solo adventures across the Five Parsecs from Home universe…

Having rolled up a world, Palacco, which wasn’t entirely conducive to operations, there wasn’t much I could do in the campaign turn or ”world” phase. Palacco is tightly restricted, which means only one crew member can explore each turn. I may have misunderstood this as I thought this term limited other options too, but perhaps I was wrong. And in the end, I didn’t bother, which was probably an error as I might have gained something out of this phase. In addition, crew subsistence costs are doubled due to the high cost of living. The crew also had to pay four credits (Cr) for an operating licence.

Wellington had initially rolled up a corporate contact although the danger pay amounted to only an additional credit. It was also urgent; must be completed this turn or lost. I rolled up a sweep mission; move across and exit the table (right to left in the photos). The corporation want to clear out some rival group from the area. Maybe there has been a mineral find in the area. Who cares? A jobs a job. I rolled up a randomized layout having set out a table for this myself. Possibly there wasn’t enough cover…

The opposition looked quite tough but limited: Three “unknown mercs” whose characteristics made them faster, tougher and better in combat (+1) than any of the crew of the Pi. However, being mercs, they were more likely to bug out in good order if things got tough. One was a mysterious hooded specialist armed with a sniper rifle. The two grunts, the rotund (or perhaps muscled) Dinohed and Redd, who looked to have a more military bearing, were armed with colony rifles. These are simple, robust weapons favoured on the frontier.

The deployment conditions specified that it would be a surprise encounter in which the enemy could not move in the first round. In addition, there was a “peculiar item” located on the table which would give 2 XP if collected.

Turn 1:
During turn one the crew moved in from the right edge but observed no targets. Kel took up an initial sniping position in cover. Their opponents, caught by surprise, didn’t move.

Turn 2:
A terrible roll meant that only one of the crew would get to act before their opponents. I say terrible; in Five Parsecs, I roll a D6 for each character in the crew at the start of each turn. For each character, if I can allocate them a dice equal to or under their reaction stat., they act in the “quick action” phase. Or they can defer. Their opponents act after this in the “enemy action” phase. Finally, any character that did not act earlier may act in the “slow action” phase. Given their reaction stats are even split between 1 and 2, few if any were ever going to move in the quick action phase. In fact only Kel did, and got in a shot at long range and hit. However, this caused no damage only a stun which pushed back Dinohed 1”. After the mercs moved up to the cover of the ruin, Veyon got a shot off and hit. Rolling a 6 on damage she immediately killed Redd outright! Wellington moved in cover on the nearside/bottom of the board in an attempt to make an outflanking movement.

At the end of turn 2 the rules provide for a random battle event. My experience previously has been that these could be quite nasty for all. Let’s just say I have seen some nasty indigenous wildlife…However, what I got this time was “A desperate plan”. One random figure doesn’t move but one other character of the players choice gets two actions; one in quick time and one in slow. In the event, Pascal and Veyon both moved in the quick round. Pascal advanced and got in close for a quick shot at the already stunned Dinohed.

Hit and a damage roll of 6! Another quick kill. At this point the leader would probably have tried to withdraw and fight another day, but this might have prejudiced the crew’s post battle circumstances. Veyon immediately went for a shot at the leader. Hit with one shot from her Blast-rifle. And a damage roll of…another 6!

Given that I have previously alluded to my earlier crew’s travails, the result of this mission was a surprise. I’ve got into all sorts of scrapes and suffered various wounds previously resulting in turns spent in med bay and out of action. Treatment has also caused me to literally bleed credits. So, this very short game was unexpectedly smooth. Subsequent conversations have suggested to me that you should expect the occasional “easier” experience. To take a phrase completely out of context; “It’s life Jim, but not as we know it.” You can have hard days (which I most certainly had) but some days are just easier. However, it also turned out to lack in fringe benefits. While Pascal picked up the item of interest for 2 XP, we got no battlefield finds. Very disappointing. Post-game we did pick up some loot, a “shock attachment” which imparts the “impact” trait to a firearm. Everyone picked up XP, especially Pascal (7 – including one in the after the battle phase because the local food was so good!) and Veyon as a result of her two kills. We also picked up a new patron.

But otherwise, I really think it is time to get off this unpromising rock. The crew took a gamble, paid 5 Cr for fuel and the Pi blasted out of Palacco spaceport looking for opportunities elsewhere…

Five Parsecs From Home – The Pi Campaign

Marcus takes off into deep space with his crew of ne’er-do-wells in the start of a new solo campaign.

According to the strapline, Five Parsecs from Home is “A solo adventure wargame of galactic trailblazing!”. Originally published amongst a host of other products from Nordic Weasel Games, I bought the original some years ago but never got it to the table as I often don’t with electronic products (but you can get it from Drive Thru RPG here). When Modiphius produced a lovely, updated physical version in 2021 I had to give it a try.

The game relies heavily on tables to generate characters and events each turn. It is hardly surprising that rolling up my characters was an activity redolent with memories of half-forgotten episodes of ‘80’s role playing.

Having had a couple of games which went well in terms of understanding, but very much not so in if judged by any standard of success, I regretfully decided to roll up a new crew and record the results for general edification.

Firstly, the Captain: Veyon Ostrova (human). While Veyon grew up on a Research Outpost which gave her some technical background, her family were artists. She has as a result a bit of savy and a slice of luck. She is motivated by wealth.

Veyon and Pascal

Pascal Xavier (human “bio-up”). Pascal is an unusual character. From a wealthy background he is bio-adjusted with cybernetics, (including the ability to avoid a stun on a D6 roll of 5+). Pascal has a political motivation (which I suspect gives him some revolutionary leanings) and a mysterious patron, a private organization with some as yet unspecified objectives. Nevertheless, he is also quite savvy. He is not short of a bit of cash and generated a story point, which can adjust matters in the player’s favour; a lucky break or perhaps a dramatic twist in the story…

San Holo (humanoid alien). San is particularly notable for his blueish skin tone and has innate engineering skills. Brought up on a space station, he is not as tough as the others, but he is fast. He is a bit of a scoundrel but is motivated by romance. Is he looking for a lost love? San also generated a story point.

Holo and Tigg

Nira Tigg (human) grew up in with a ganger background. Whatever happened on that mining colony she grew up on, she is out for blood! She is motivated by revenge. As a result she is tough (+1), has two experience points and faster reactions (+1) than the norm, but also has a rival. Somebody is gunning for her too!

Kel Wyre. Not unlike Nira, Kel has an unhappy background. Escaping from some war-torn hell-hole of a planet with two experience points and (+1) quick reactions, he values his freedom above anything else. And what way to assure that than a ready supply of cash? Kel is a scavenger who has his ear to the ground (+1 rumour) and has managed to acquire a sniper rifle.

Finally, Wellington Duo (human) grew up in a wealthy merchant family and perhaps not surprisingly he is motivated by the acquisition of wealth himself. He has some experience in corporate espionage and a corporate patron who has provided the crew with their first job. He has a handy way with tech (he has a repair bot and knows how to use it with +1 to repairs)

Their ship is a lowly rust-bucket of a freighter. Its registration ends with the digits …31.4. San remarked on this and Veyon replied “Then it will be Pi in the Sky” and the name stuck.

Wyre and Duo

Next time we’ll get stuck into some action…