5 Parsecs from Home After Action Report 2 Behind the Scenes and Epilogue

 This post will go into the game details behind the narrative in the 5 Parsecs from Home After Action Report 2.  

Here is a summary of the post battle rolls for the events after the 5 Parsecs from Home After Action Report 1.  The Pirates the crew faced, named the Black Dragons, became Rivals.  The crew received a Personal Trinket from the Battlefield Finds table. A Personal Trinket could turn into a Loot roll for a planet visited in the future if a 9 or higher is rolled on a 2d6.  Each crew member obtained one XP. The Blast Pistol was broken but the crew also bought 2 Colony Rifles and 1 Infantry Laser.  Leomes Gallo and Piklov Demir were in the sick bay and out of action for next turn. 

At the end of turn 1, the crew’s currencies were the following: 10 Credits, 10 Story Points, and 5 Rumors. In addition, the Ship Debt was 14 credits total. 

A note about Story Points. I had been using them to modify out of combat rolls to my favor, but I had missed the rule on p.66 of the 5 Parsecs from Home core book that states, “Any time you have rolled for anything, you may spend 1 story point to roll again, but the new result must be accepted. This works whether you are rolling for your own characters, an enemy action, or something that just happens in the campaign.” I could have been expending Story Points in combat to shift things to my advantage. I however did not do this as you can see in the last playthrough that I wrote up!

After buying the three firearms after the battle in turn 1, I reshuffled the crew’s equipment on the remaining four mercenaries.  Their weapons loadout is reflected in the narrative.

Then, I rolled up random names for Piklov Demir and Levian Nuende’s Patrons. Levian Nuende’s Patron was a shadowy private organization called The Collegium.  Piklov’s Patron was a wealthy individual named Arnav Ton. 

I made similar rolls for the crew’s Rivals. Both Captain Bjorn Ivannox and Anriel had a criminal element as a Rival so I made them the same Rival, just with two chances of appearing (one for Bjorn and one for Anriel).  I rolled up their name to be The Integrated Syndicate.  In addition to that Rival, I also added the note that the Black Dragons, the Pirate clan they had just beaten, were now Rivals. 

In Campaign Turn 2, before the battle, I skipped Travel Steps and went immediately to World Steps. In that step the crew lost a credit to crew upkeep; and Ship Debt (14) was paid down by two credits (12) but then gained one credit in value due to interest (13). I had 7 total credits remaining.  I decided to not pay for medical care for my two humans in sick bay because I was running low on credits. To be frank, the addition of another mercenary or two could have swung the resulting battle in my favor. Lesson learned. 

Next in Crew Tasks, Bjorn and Anriel tried to repair the broken Blast Pistol but failed and destroyed it outright. Fallox Encia tried to Trade but she found tourist garbage that wasn’t even worth a story point. I had decided that in the narrative she spent her time doing a screamcore music gig.  Levian Nuende got lucky in his Exploration roll, found a trainer and gained 2 XP. 

For a Job Offer I rolled that Arnav Ton, the wealthy individual, offered the crew a job with +2 credits in hazard pay.  I decided to take this job immediately (it was only offered for this turn) but then a Rival tracked the crew down! The roll revealed the Integrated Syndicate as the rival, and I wove these random events into the story to make it feel more dramatic.   

The deployment conditions of the battle phase were less than idea for my crew.  First of all, the crew was Caught off Guard, meaning that the crew is forced to act in the Slow Action phase in round 1.  Also, the Rival had Ambushed us, so the crew was forced to deploy with one less crewmember than the standard six, but since I was going into the battle with four squaddies, this particular disadvantage didn’t matter.  

The battle progressed primarily as described in the narrative. However, in the fifth round both Anriel and Bjorn were taken out of action by a Guild Trooper and the Bounty Tracker respectively.  I have to say, rolling up the Unique Individual the Fearless Bounty Tracker with an Aggressive AI, really inspired me to write him up as a character in the Interlude. I think the narrative became more dramatic and tense because of this as well. 

As for the ending, what happens to the fallen Bjorn and Anriel? Who knows? I think it is a much more interesting plot if the question is not immediately addressed. As for the two crew members left in sick bay…

******

Epilogue

Piklov groaned and rolled over in his bed.  An insistent beeping steadily infiltrated the layers of his unconsciousness until he was soberly and painfully awake.  His eyelids opened. He groaned again and shut his eyes, burying his face in his pillow to avoid the sterile pristine whiteness that met his gaze and the black field sprinkled with stars that the smart-window displayed. 

Wait a minute. A starfield? Shouldn’t they be docked at Lanrezac Gamma’s main spaceport? The question came up from the depths of his mind and crested his consciousness.  Piklov Demir sat up, and immediately regretted it as the pain from his torso told him his broken ribs were still healing. But the sharp agony clarified his mind. Yes, that was a starfield, a window onto deep space; and yes, he smelled something pungent and familiar over the omnipresent scent of antiseptic. Incense. 

“Leomes, I know you are up,” called Piklov. “I can smell that you’ve been praying.” 

“Successfully it might seem,” came the warm baritone of Leomes Gallo as the preacher man entered the room in a white shirt and drawstring pants. “We are alive, and … somewhere far from our enemies I believe.”  

“What do you mean?” asked Piklov, “Where is the Captain and what about the mission from Arnav Ton? They should be back by now, right?” He stared at the starfield, confused. 

Leomes Gallo took a beat and composed himself. “When I awoke, we were already in deep space.  The autopilot for the ship was engaged and we were headed on an unknown vector.  All I know is that we are away from Lanrezac Gamma, far away,” he added, “and not by accident.”

Piklov stood up, ignoring the pain and faced Leomes. “The Captain must of planned this.  Have you heard of a dead man’s switch? It’s a failsafe used to execute an action in case the user is incapacitated.  And that can only mean…”

Leomes nodded, his mouth pressed into a thin line. 

“Well shit,” Piklov Demir concluded. 

******

So the adventures of the crew of Captain Bjorn Ivannox may not be concluded! After the Total Party Kill of the After Action Report 2, I figured that the two crew members in sick bay would have got away. After all, the Integrated Syndicate was the Rival of only Bjorn and Anriel, not the entire crew.

So now what?  Well, I plan on rolling up a new crew, totaling six and using the Crew Type Tables on p.14 of the core book. My thoughts are that Piklov Demir and Leomes Gallo spend all of the crew’s credits on hiring the new crew and getting away from the planet where Captain Bjorn met his doom. Rumors and Story Points will be reset to zero. However, since the ship is the same, I’ll have the new crew inherit the current Ship Debt.  Also, I figure that any equipment on Bjorn’s team is forfeit. Gear, items and weapons stored on the ship like the Nano-Doc will be migrated to the new crew.  I’m not quite definite as to exactly what rules I will institute, bend or ignore when creating the new crew so I’ll leave those deliberations to a post in the future.     

Will the new crew swear revenge on the Integrated Syndicate? Are Bjorn and Anriel really dead or wish they were? Will we see that black-hatted Bounty Tracker again? Only time will tell.