Starforged: First Session

Hello humans!

And today it looks like it's more RPG stuff.  While I couldn't get into Ironsworn, for some reason Starforged was easier for me and I was able to get started and play through to the end without a problem.  Well, almost without a problem.  For some reason it took me months to come back to this and roll the dice two more times.

Anyway, here's what happened...

Chrome Hammer: Ascension - R&D

Hello, Humans!

Sorry about the blog lag (blag?)  It's been a while since I've made a post, and even longer since I've done one about minis gaming.  Sometimes hobbies just get "used up" for me and I struggle to find an angle to get back into it.  I'm also in a bit of a creative slump.  But enough about me!

Today, I'm eating my own (soy) dog food and trying out some rules changes that I'm batting around.

Today's Job is what I'm going to call "Smash and Grab".

Into The Odd (Solo with Mythic GME)

 Hello, humans!

I decided to try something different.  Into the Odd is such a clever little game with such a lovely physical book, that I just had to get some play time in with it.  I don't have an RPG group, though (at least none that would be interested in this kind of RPG game), so I'm trying to play it solo.

Wait!  Is this becoming the solo RPG blog?  Are you trying to trick me?  Is this a kissing blog?

I don't know.  This is just where I am right now.  I'm sure I'll get back to some minis soon.

TSoY: The Ziggurat

More adventures with Pedro and Chaser! (A scant two years late.)

I don't know if anybody wants this, but my blarg is lying here, fallow, and I've got nothing else right now, so you get a clumsy attempt at some solo "roleplaying" using The Shadow of Yesterday and the Mythic Gamemaster Emulator.

When last we left our adventurous duo, they had crossed a perilous rope-bridge into a dark forest, escaped pursuit by Khalean ne'er-do-wells, and had a personal reckoning.  It has now been several weeks of travel as they continue their treasure hunt, though their simple map is proving less and less useful.  Following the coast northward, the days become warmer, signs of civilization appear less and less often, and the forest inland grows more and more dense.  The strange hoots and growls emanating from the dark, wet jungle speak of death and danger.

Space Station Zero: Vorann (The Pod)

 Hello, humans!

Continuing from the previous post, Vorann's crew faces a new Challenge in "The Pod".

As they arrive in a new section of Space Station Zero filled with loose, sci-fi junk, a pod opens up and ejects some kind of device displaying a digital count-down.

Oh no!  I guess we'd better get over there and disarm what is obviously a virus bomb!  Good thing there don't seem to be any other threats in here. [wink]

Space Station Zero: Vorann (Docking Bay Access Port)

Hello, humans!

Snarling Badger Studios came out with a new solo, sci-fi minis skirmish game and it had a great cover so I went ahead and picked it up.

The idea is pretty cool, and it has a sort of "rogue-like" quality that might work well for a video game, but seems to be ruffling some feathers as a minis game.  Maybe it's just expectations?  We'll see.

Regardless, I decided to give it a try.

Chrome Hammer: Ascension - Campaign Turns 2 & 3 (Rescue & Astral Pain)

 

Hoi, Humans (and Meta-Humans)!

Last mission was successful, but Sarge (the Ork Shadow) was captured by the Corporation!  Technically, Sarge can sit in limbo until I get around to trying to set up a rescue, but I'm impatient and want my cool Ork back, so despite not getting paid, I'm setting out to rescue our captured Crew member!

There's also a follow up Astral Pain mission.  We'll see how Shuffle does on his own.

So let's get to it!

Chrome Hammer: Ascension - Campaign Turn 1 (Wetwork)

Hoi, Humans (and Meta-Humans)!

It's time to start a Chrome Hammer: Ascension campaign!

I've been building this thing and testing it and laying it out, but I haven't had a chance to approach it like a player, starting from scratch.  Well, no more waiting!  It's time to eat my own (soy-)dog-food.

I've already got the table set up, so let's go!

Five Parsecs: Bug Hunt

 

Hello humans!

An entity on the NWG Discord offered to host a cooperative Five Parsecs: Bug Hunt campaign, and I thought it would be a good way to force myself to actually play a game.  So far, it's working!

Lock and load, Marines!  It's time for a Bug Hunt!

Five Parsecs from Home 3E!

Hol-lee crap!  Five Parsecs from Home got the nod from Modiphius and has come out with a shiny new third edition!  So obviously I had to give it a go.  Maybe this will even be a running thing.

I made a new crew, all Human except for the lone Engineer alien.  The had a pretty good start, too.  Most of my guys had a Reaction score of 2 or 3, which is nice for a starting crew.  The team consisted of Verdun the Captain, Bloo, Flavio, Spiegel, Riek, and the alien Döbler.

Verdun has a sweet Glare Sword and a Hand Laser.  Bloo has a devastating Shatter Axe.

Our ship, the "Profit Margin" is cobbled together out of salvage, but still put us in debt of 25 credits.

Time for adventure!

Remember Tomorrow: Welcome to Somewhere

Hello, humans!  In an effort to entertain myself, I  thought I'd try soloing Gregor Hutton's "Remember Tomorrow: Near Future Role-Playing".  This is one of those where it's GM-less and the story and characters are shared between the players.  Is that better for a solo game or worse?  Who knows?

In the city of Somewhere, things are all cyberpunky, with corporations and gangs and cybernetic implants and humanoid robots and such.  This game tells the story of some characters trying to get what they want, but to do that, they'll need to be ready, willing, and able when the opportunity comes along.

Chrome Hammer: Ascension Beta (Severance Package)

 

Gaea Prime: First Defense or "X-COM Please Don't Sue"

 

Let's face it, whenever I see a new sci-fi skirmish game, it seems like the first thing anybody asks is "Can it do X-COM?"  If for some reason you're not familiar with X-COM, it was an old computer game of tactical skirmish combat that explored fending off alien infantry, raiding their crashed ships, and researching the remains to reverse-engineer all of their cool tech to use against them.  Great game.

Gaea Prime: First Defense is basically that: GP's first encounter with alien slavers raiding the Earth for resources, and the adventures of GP's armed forces as they kill the aliens and loot their bodies for research fodder.

Here's how my first game went...

TSoY: Maybe it's Me?

Previously, on The Shadow of Yesterday...

DUN DUN!

"What's going on here?  Where are the minis games?"

I know, I know.  This is just something that I have to get out of my system.  I've got plans for another minis battle report soon.  Maybe next weekend.  My gaming table is my work desk now, so things are more of a hassle to set up.

Anyway, Pedro, outcast member of the Red Company, and his Ratkin sidekick, "Chaser", have shacked up with a clan of bandits in the wilderness, and in a night of drunken camaraderie have agreed to help them knock over a guarded coach carrying valuable cargo.

TSoY: Some of My Best Friends Are Thieves

Another RPG recounting?  Is this what I'm doing now?  I don't know.  It's kind of neat in the moment, and it's a chance to try these games that I'll probably never see in action otherwise.

This is another "adventure" set in the World of Near.  In the previous adventure, Pedro "The Butcher" Vina was hurt pretty badly, and wandered off into the forest, losing track of his ratkin companion, "Chaser", who was last seen trapped in a hallway with approaching soldiers.

I decided that, if this were a TV show, the next episode would pick up from Chaser's point of view, so that's what I did!

TSoY: The Thing in the Tower

I used to be all about the RPGs, but at some point I lost my knack for them.  I might (maybe) be an OK GM, but I am just awful as a player.  Still, I like RPGs and I own a bunch that I've never played (which I'm sure you guys can relate to), so I decided to try the whole "Solo RPG" thing which for some reason feels really new.  I don't know.

First, the game I'm playing is "The Shadow of Yesterday", or rather "Solar System" using the "World of Near" supplement.  I honestly don't know how best to describe the system, but it seems pretty fascinating to me, and the setting is kind of cool, too.

In a nutshell, it's a fantasy world 100 years after a near miss from an asteroid ripped off a chunk of the planet to create the moon.  The world (especially the formerly great kingdom of Maldor) has a bit of a fantasy post-apocalypse vibe.

The Department: Seventh Mission

Mission Seven: The Nightclub

Sorry.  I've been sitting on this one for quite a while now because I didn't have the "nightclub" terrain I needed.  Sure, I could have faked it, but I was also looking for an excuse to do some crafting.  So, after a long time, I finally built my nightclub set, and I'm using it for this mission.  It's not perfect, but it's pretty good, I think.

Ok.  Let's get on with The Nightclub.

The Department - Sixth Mission

Mission Six: Murder Sweep!

Hey! Didn't you already do one of these?

Well, yes, but that's part of the game. There are only six different missions, plus the unique "boss" missions, so there's going to be some back-tracking in an effort to earn the required evidence. Actually, I would have rather have had a go at the Nightclub or Bust the Lab missions, but I don't currently have a 25+ cm nightclub interior, or 6(!) such interiors to represent the floors of an abandoned building. It's something to work towards, though. :)

For now, we get Murder Sweep again.

Hardwired: Cyberpunk Mayhem!

It seems like skirmishy solo games are all the rage lately, and that works for me, since I don't have a lot of victims friends to try new 15mm games on.  I also, for some reason, like the cyberpunk genre for these sorts of things (witness the terrain).

So, eventually I picked up Hardwired, with the hope that it would be a cool solo cyberpunk game experience.  (Unfortunately, the awesome cover didn't actually come as part of the PDF.  I am sad.) 

Anyway, here's how it turned out:

Blood in Space(...ace...ace..ace...)!

Blood.
In.
SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaace!

So, @Dutch_Law implied that I should try out Blood In Space.  I already owned it, but hadn't played it yet (after all, I have plenty of games to play already).  Blood In Space is a solo or cooperative game of sci-fi shoot-em-up.  It comes with a few pregenerated characters, but you can make your own.  It also has a campaign system of interlocking scenarios, which is nice for a solo game.