Dirty Deeds in space: Episode 4

You can find out more about What's OLD is NEW at http://www.enworld.org/

[DISCLAIMER!] This is not indicative of my writing ability. These are written RIGHT after the game ends so I don't forget the details. They are rough. REALLY rough. But it's a lot of fun writing these and it's easier to keep doing them if I don't have to worry about grammar and stuff like that.

Episode 4: Fire, Run with Me

The session started out really late so this is going to be shorter than usual. When we last left off, there was an attack on the system leaving some Star Marines and Psi-Corp members dead. The team was stuck in a lock down on the system, waiting for the chance to leave and deliver the relic.

Instead of waiting, Bora decides to deliver the pirate corpses at the Star Marine base for the bounty. He conscripts Ruby and Vera to help him. Ruby is just going to pick up his package. Vera is going to look like a bounty hunter.

They leave the ship and are immediately assaulted by the acrid smell of smoke in the air. They brave their way through the thick black smoke to the elevators. However, their plans are cut short by a huge explosive device attacked to the elevator doors. There are bright red numbers counting down...

Ruby tries to disarm it using his brilliant engineering and fails...miserably (remember that Ruby is the ships engineer). With nothing left to do, the three run back towards the ship as the docking bay becomes a war zone. There's explosions everywhere and debris flying all over the place.

This is when we started the Countdown. I was generous and gave them 6 tries to reach the ship using their speed. Vera was VERY unlucky and was losing dice left and right. She was down to one dice by the third roll. I also gave them challenges to overcome, such as jumping over crates and avoiding flying debris. The three were down to almost one dice by the time pirates showed up to block their path.

Bora was having none of that and shot them with his psi attack. Vera didn't want to risk anything, and instead of fighting she dodged past the pirates. That left Bora and Ruby fighting the pirates to the death. Thanks to Bora's quick psionic attack, the two pirates left were almost dead and were quickly dispatched. Bora rushed with Vera to the ship while Ruby stayed behind to grab the pirate corpses for their bounty.

Vera just barely made it to the ship, having to make an AGI check to jump into Sa'La's pocket dimension. Bora didn't make it and had to try to find cover but failed. Ruby also tried to hide from the blast but didn't make it in time.

The bomb went off...rocking the entire station and nearly knocking the ship on its side.

On the ship, Sa'La is keeping the portal open for as long as she can. Elieth, going with his first instinct, starts up the ship and starts flying towards the bay doors. There's smoke everywhere, so Elieth has to be very careful not to crash. Some debris falls after another explosion knocking the ship around but Elieth keeps it on course. However, the doors are blocked by more debris and destroyed ships. Vera mans the gunner seat and fires...almost missing with the benefit of a luck dice. She blows a big enough space for the ship to fly out into space.

The crew waits at the doors for their two friends, hoping they made it.


Back on the station, before Ruby dies and is incinerated into nothing, he uploads his consciousness into the ships computer...for some reason.

Bora on the other hand, used the last of his strength to push the dolly full of pirate corpses into the portal. This is another END Countdown and he does manage to make it with no trouble. Before he dies of burns and various other wounds, a knife stabs him through the chest. Bora uses the last of his HP to blast the attack into a ship, destroying the enemies head.

Bora falls to the ground. Before he passes out forever, Bora suddenly hears whistling. He looks up and sees a man with a flaming helmet staring down at him.

FIRE
"Totally NOT a Pyromaniac"
A mysterious terrorist and associate of pirates. Real identity and race unknown.

"That was so cool." That's the last thing Bora hears before he dies.


Back on the ship, the crew is mourning. Vera goes to her room to drink away the memory of almost dying. Ayen asks them all what happened and Elieth explains the pirates must have attacked. She is really concerned about what happened and says, "My home."

Elieth calls Verner to discuss the deal. He informs Verner about what happened, shocking the large criminal. Verner then realizes that he heard pirate activity is down all over the galaxy. They followed the party into an under-defended system. Verner then asks if the relic is safe, pissing off Elieth. Elieth then says that some of his crew is dead and that his informant screwed up. Ayen then gets really aggressive and tries to choke Elieth. He talks to her getting her to calm down, explaining that she's now a ghost because they most likely think she's dead. She can go and do whatever she wants. "I never wanted to be a ghost."

Elieth then begins negotiating with Verner. He's holding the relic hostage until Verner calls off their debt. Verner is furious and threatens to press the self-destruct button for their ship. elieth doesn't even blink, reminding Verner that that would blow up the relic. Verner then says he will call of the debt and give them a bunch of bonus cash, if Elieth kills Ayen for screwing up. Elieth doesn't do it, but he's still pissed at her and says he will leave her somewhere the first chance he gets.

Verner wipes away the debt, and asks Elieth what's next for them. He wants to return to the Orci system now that he might have a chance to do it without being arrested. He's going to use the warp gate and try to get back on the right side of the law. The crew then finally starts to relax.

A little while later, they suddenly get a call from an unknown number. Elieth answers but doesn't put up the video screen. It's then that they hear a familiar voice. It's Don Krogeth. He says he heard about the station they were on blowing up. Elieth wonders how he knew that they were on that station and Krogeth just says he knows the right people to pay off.

Don Krogeth changes the subject by saying he has good news. They're now part of the Star Families!

CREDITS!

Numenera: Rules vs. Rules-Lite

A "newish" aspect of the RPG hobby is the rise of rules-lite games. Simply put, rules-lite games are really simple and don't take the commitment of a D&D style epic. You can pick up the book, a character sheet, a GM that knows the rules, and pretty much go. I've played a few of these rules-lite games with mixed results. My Numenera game was the most successful. With a game like Numenera, it doesn't take long to understand the rules. As people become busy or sessions get canceled, having these simple games nearby can save a game night with your group.

That being said, there are disadvantages to rules-lite in that they're pretty thin games. The best you can get out of them are a few sessions unless you're group really loves the setting. There is very little meat to actually latch onto. Numenera is structured very differently from these smaller games. It's a big game with a lot of reaching ideas, but the mechanics are simple and easy to follow.

I'm going to skip talking about the "classes" and character generation of Numenera for now and just focus on the base mechanics.

So here's an interesting aspect of Numenera, a player only gets one action per round. Compare that to D&D where you get around 4. This can feel extremely limiting to a player that wants their Jack to leap 12 feet through the air onto the monsters back and stab it in the eye. Alternatively, it keeps the action flowing quickly as players only have to think of one thing to do during their turn. In my experience, if you're playing this game very loosely, these rules actually make a lot of sense for a group that just wants to have a good time.

For a game like Numenera, the mechanics take a backseat to the story. Is this a bad thing, or a good thing? Well it really depends on what kind of game you're running. In a later article I want to talk about "crunchy" role playing games and how those compare to rules-lite. For now, lets discuss mechanics.

The problem with writing this article is, because the rules are so simple, there's not much to talk about. My only comment is that it works for what Monte Cook was trying to accomplish, and there lies the crux of what an RPG writer needs to think about. How do the mechanics fit with the world you're presenting. For a game like Warhammer, the mechanics need to be brutal and tactical (at least I'm assuming I don't actually play Warhammer). The mechanics need to compliment and enhance your setting.

How can they enhance your setting? Well Numenera kind of gives us a good example. The Numenera are strange and often dangerous objects of power and technology. The book provides a wealth of examples and mechanics for how to use them in your game. Providing so many examples helps GMs and players get a feel for what Numenera are and how they relate to the world. In my game, during the later sessions, I started to create my own Numenera. Now, if Numenera didn't have any of those examples, it would be much harder to imagine what a Numenera is and does. If you give a strong mechanical base for the readers, they can begin to play around with those mechanics and create their own ideas.

For my own RPG, there is an ambiguous mechanic of the world like the Numenera. Writing this has helped me realize I need to give players that strong base to work off of. The point of the game is to make your own, lets call them Numenera for now since I haven't decided on an official name, and explore the endless possibilities you can create. Gamers creating their own things in your world is what you should be striving for, but only if that's the point. Like most things, some games are designed with rigid backbones in mind, which is perfectly fine. D&D is like that.

Lets get into some nitty gritty and talk about Experience. At its general core, experience is just a mechanical number that tells your players when they get stronger. Simple and easy to implement if you're a combat focused game because monsters have a set experience they give to the players. If you're a game like Numenera and many other rules-lite games, this system needs some tweaking. For Numenera, experience is granted when the players make a discovery in the world. Not the most elegant system and it can leave some players feeling shafted if the GM doesn't award them experience for something they see as important. The game also offers experience for completing personal goals (a system I really encourage). This is a departure from the norm which can be really creative in the right circumstances. I'm not a fan of Numenera's experience system.

For a game like this, you're not meant to be going on grand quests that span years. A chronicle is supposed to span a few sessions and then end, at least that's the best way to play these games based on the mechanics. Still, awarding experience based on something nebulous like discovery can be a contentious thing. The best thing, I think, is just giving flat XP at the end of a session. For my own game, I'm going to stick with the more traditional style XP system for now but that might change as I explore the setting. We're going to end our discussion of XP right now because I have some opinions on other stuff relating to XP in a future article (most likely the last one). I am, however, interested in looking at other systems of XP generation. It's going to be a tough thing to nail down later on in the development process.

I think that's about it. So what is best for my game? I'm guessing somewhere in the middle. While I like most rules-lite games, and will sometimes get into them, they have a very short appeal timer. If you've got even one "gamer" in your group, these kinds of games will most likely bore them. Meeting somewhere in the middle between crunchy and lite appeals more to my sensibilities. I'm not a "gamer" or a role player. Unfortunately, Numenera didn't give me much insight into mechanical design. It's much too simple to be of much use (the mechanics chapter is only 29 pages). One thing I did notice is the inclusion of an "Optional Rules" section. I'll have to contemplate that for the future. Disappointing.

Next week, character creation where we explore what a class actually is, and if it's important for a game. Until then.