Chrome Hammer: Ascension Beta (Sabotage)

Hello, Humans!

I'm working on a new thing that has been described as "solo play, demons, and magic".  This is a little peek into what I've got so far.

../The 'Punks

1. "Sakura" Troll Ronin (Veteran) Killing Machine [1]

2. "Noose" Ork Shadow (Ganger) Slippery [1]

3. "Teabag" Dwarf Face (Corp) Motivated [1]

4. "Mom" Elf Mage (Enforcer) Fireball (Spell) [1]

5. "Eli" Revenant Hacker (Zealot) L0LC4TZ [1]

../The Corporations

1. GlammerWare© (Fey Lord/Cybernetics)

2. Lonely Mountain Holdings LLC© (Dragon/Banking)

3. In³Biz© (Demon/AI)

../Campaign Turn 1

Character Event: "ZBay Score" (Nobody has any money yet, so ignored)

Mission Offer: Sabotage (Monkeywrench) vs. GlammerWare©

Downtime Activities:

• Can't afford a Clone or to Shop or to Bribe.
• Sakura and Noose case the location for alternate entrances.  They find a side door.
• Eli fails to dig up any access codes
• Teabag crashes a party, spending 0 money, but gaining 3 Street Cred.
• Mom cleans up the streets in her neighborhood, earning 12(!) Street Cred and 1 PayData!

The Twist: "Without a Trace" - If the mission is completed without any of the 'Punks becoming Exposed, earn +2D6 G₿.

../The Mission

GlammerWare© Units:

1. Implant Infantry

2. Will O' Wisps

3. Chromed Commandos

4. Doppelganger

5. Full-Conversion 'Borg

6. Beast-Lord

GlammerWare© Protocols:

1. Motion Sensors

2. Faerie Rings

3. Scramble

4. Gloaming

5. Suspicion

6. Dreaming

And here is the table:

Mom, Sakura, Teabag and Eli at the front
with Noose sneaking in the side door.

../Game Turn 1

 

I get three Orders, which I use to move Noose and Eli toward the nearest Data Terminals, and the last I use to run Mom up the middle toward the objective.

Unfortunately, three of the four initial guards show up on my flanks, but only one successfully scans Sakura and Teabag, and only for 1 point of Stealth loss each.

It's a good idea to set up your entrance in a bit of cover.

../Game Turn 2

Only 2 Orders this time, and I don't want to be Exposed yet as I'm going for that extra cash, so I have Sakura and Teabag run away from the guards.  Unfortunately, Teabag's stunty little legs just aren't up to the task, and one of the guards scans him for 3 Stealth loss!

Pick up the pace, Teabag, you load!

../Game Turn 3

Four Orders!  Yes!  Teabag manages to run far enough away that he has a chance to hide, but this also means that everybody is ganging up on Eli, who loses more Stealth in a Close Call.  Sakura tries his hand at hacking the nearby terminal, but fails, only adding +1 to the progress.

Revenants can't Move out, which is pretty disadvantageous.
Gonna need to boost them somehow.

Meanwhile, Mom makes a full, 13 inch sprint to the other side of the table, but loses a point of Stealth for running too fast, and then she gets scanned by that one guard.  She's heading right for the Beast Lord that just showed up, too, but luckily the big ox (is he literally part ox?) is pretty slow.

The Beast Lord! [BWAAAAAAAMMMMM!]

../Game Turn 4

Five Orders!  Noose runs up on the Data Terminal, but doesn't have time to hack it yet.  Eli tries to hide behind a holo-tree.  Sakura barely hacks the Data Terminal (thanks to the +1 from last time), scoring 1 PayData, but then one of the guards spots him poking around and calls out!  The other guard charges forward, guns blazing, and rolls a 6 to Assault!  And Sakura rolls a 1!  This would be bad under normal circumstances, but this triggers the Overrun rule!  Sakura goes down automatically! :(

Well, turds!  Trolls are tough, but an overrun's an overrun. :(

The rest of the guards begin closing in on the remaining 'Punks, but to make matters worse, all of this lost Stealth triggers a Protocol: "Scramble"!  All of the Corporate forces get a free move (at Patrol Speed as there are no longer any Exposed, active 'Punks).  So much for the bonus reward.

Mom manages to get to the Astral Portal and stay mostly out of sight, but the Beast Lord is closing in!

The Beast Lord's roar can stun enemies, but he just doesn't
get a chance to catch his breath here.

../Game Turn 5

Five Orders, and I thought I had this in the bag, but no luck!  Mom and Noose both fail to hack or hotwire their targets, and both Eli and Mom get Exposed and attacked!  (Teabag doesn't do much this turn.)

Come on, move, dude!  Are you a Revenant or a Zombie?

Mom: "Come at me, brah!"

../Game Turn 6

All of this chaos triggers more responses, both reinforcements and protocols!  A freaky Doppelganger comes on the scene, looking to secretly replace the 'Punks!  Meanwhile, a Gloaming falls upon the compound.  Everything gets dim and more sinister and dangerous, and the 'Punks are suddenly thrown into shadow, once again hidden from their enemies!  Unfortunately, they lose track of the Corporate forces for a moment as well, and the Corp Units are able to sneak up upon them!

Despite her bravado, this sudden twilight is a huge relief!

Mom dashes for safety before she's seen again, with the hidden Doppelganger hot on her heels.  Meanwhile, Noose finally cracks the Data Terminal for another +1 PayData, but now the Beast Lord is looming!  Still hidden near the front, Teabag manages to give himself quite the shock (3 Damage) while trying to hotwire a Loot Crate.

Mom flees the Doppelganger.
Being copied maybe isn't so bad, but it sure is creepy!

../Game Turn 7

Well, now we're in a pickle!  It could be worse, I suppose.  Noose bravely takes one for the team, sprinting away from the Astral Portal before voluntarily revealing himself, and drawing the enemy's attention!  Mom uses this opportunity to slip past the Doppelganger (that she isn't even certain is there) and run for the Portal again!  And finally, Teabag manages to pop the lock on the Loot Crate, and finds a Mazamun-A™ blade inside!  Score!

And then everyone comes screaming after Noose!  He gets shot by a guard, but shoots him back.  Then another guard shoots him, bringing him to 5 Damage, and Noose decides to fall back into cover.  That's when the hidden Doppelganger lopes out of the gloom and stares at him from across the alley.  Copied!

Noose is cornered with 5 Damage.
He really needs to run away.

../Game Turn 8

Mom gets to the Portal, but hasn't yet gotten back to trying to demolish it.  Poor Noose is in a bad way.  He has 6 Damage now, but as an Orc, he actually has two more Hit Points, so maybe he'll make it out?

Noose, the reluctant hero
Maybe he'll make it out after all!

../Game Turn 9

KABOOM!  Mom successfully blowed up the thing!

Needs more rubble

Alas, poor Noose!  So bad at running!  Hopefully he'll limp out of there unscathed. :(  Meanwhile, the rest of the Corporate goons drift back toward the Portal to see what the hell happened.

Bah!  Stupid stairs!
He's down, but he's got good odds of crawling away unscathed.

../Game Turns 10 & 11

Mom books it down the side of the complex, trying to get as far as possible while staying out of sight, but the Corporation catches up with her!

Nooo! MOM!
She didn't even get a chance to Fireball anybody. :(

Unfortunate!  Still, the mission was a success!  What happens now?

../Aftermath

Well, now it's time to get paid!  The mission is worth 2D6 G₿, which ends up totaling 6 G₿.  Each 'Punk also earns 1D6 Street Cred, which due to poor rolls, is like a point or two each.

Of course, you have to be alive to enjoy those sweet spoils, so let's see who actually made it out.

• Sakura: (5) OK!
• Noose: (1) Wasted!
• Mom: (1) Wasted!

OMG!  Nooooo!  What an awful start!  Why do I keep using these dice?

Well, might as well process our PayData.  There are six slots for each Corporation: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.  I roll the dice (two for the hacked Data Terminals and one for Mom's side mission) and get 2, 3, and 6, filling three of the slots for GlammerWare©.  Half way there!

Finally, character advancement.  With three 'Punks taken out, the only two that can advance are Eli and Teabag.

• Eli: Gajillion-Fu[1] (Search engine skillz alters table rolls)
• Teabag: Motivated[2] (When Orders roll low, he gets a free Order)

Yeesh.

../Thought Thinkin's

Okay, then.  Really getting into this and playing it in nearly complete form has revealed a few things that I think I'll address.  

First, there are some instances of tracking Stealth that I keep forgetting, but it doesn't seem to matter, so I'm going to drop them.  Also, I'm thinking of making the Lay Low action a wee bit more forgiving.  Maybe allowing a half-move, but it only recovering 1 Stealth (instead of 2) in that case.

Also, I might have been able to save Mom.  As it stands, Street Cred allows re-rolls, but I just forgot.  I might need to change how it's tracked or something.

Finally, losing Noose and Mom hurt. :(  Is that acceptable?  I'm not sure.  These were essentially first level dudes with generic gear.  I still might need to tweak the recovery table, though.

Anyway, this little session has me pumped to get this finished.  A lot of the work now is boring stuff like filling in tables, but there's still some design that needs designing.  Fingers crossed.

Ĝis la revido!

Jason "Ludanto" Smith C;E