Five Parsecs from Coruscant, a Five Parsecs from Home fan made conversion book review

 

5 Parsecs from Home is a solo adventure wargame where you assemble a team of up to six spacefaring human and alien skirmishers whom you arm with whatever equipment you can scrounge up to take on missions and repay your spaceship’s debt.  I enjoy the emergent narrative of generating a crew and their backstory by the combination of Background, Motivation and Class tables in the 5 Parsecs from Home core book.  In fact, my first real blog post was about my 5 Parsecs crew and their adventures. 

Star Wars needs no introduction, particularly for readers of this blog.  Crimson114 on Reddit has undertaken the heavy lifting for making a Star Wars mod for 5 Parsecs. And it’s good. The 42-page pdf is titled 5 Parsecs from Coruscant and it contains tables, weapons, enemies and some rule changes adapted from the Star Wars universe during the Galactic Civil War to the ruleset of 5 Parsecs from Home. Currently the 5 Parsecs from Coruscant fan project is in 0.5 alpha, was last updated as of 3/31/26, and the author is looking for feedback from the 5 Parsecs community.  It is free so why not download it now!  This is a great way for you to use any Shatterpoint and Legion Star Wars miniatures that you have lying around gathering dust for solo play.  

Below, I will go over what has been changed by the 5P Coruscant mod.  Clearly Crimson114 is a big fan of both Star Wars and 5 Parsecs who knows what they are doing in writing this mod.  Their conversion has inspired me to write up page of preliminary thoughts on an Eclipse Phase conversion for 5 Parsecs. If there is interest, I will post those ideas in a blog post some point in the future. 

by Eric Whitted

5 Parsecs from Coruscant version 0.5 alpha 

5 Parsecs from Coruscant includes both revisions and reflavoring of things in the 5 Parsecs world to the Star Wars universe.  By reflavoring, I mean taking a 5 Parsecs entry and changing the title to make it congruent with Star Wars.  First off, in Character Creation, the alien types and droids have been changed and revised.  There are now 28 alien types, each with unique non-repeated abilities, and 4 distinct Droid types.  

Some thoughts: I don’t know much about Bothans, but I am particularly amused by their given Characteristics and Advantages, “Bothan’s start equipped with Stealth Gear in addition to any other starting gear and are always the Spy Class.”  Many Bothans indeed. Protocol Droids are actually pretty useful in this mod. They count as 2 crewmembers when assigned to Find a Patron and Trade actions, they roll twice and resolve each result in order.  I think these revisions are great adaptions of Star Wars lore and fun ways to play with the 5 Parsecs mechanics.  

The Coruscant mod’s Background and Class tables are mostly Star Wars reflavorings with the exceptions of Jedi Backgrounds and Force Sensitive Class, respectively.   So, what if you rolled up a Jedi or Force Sensitive, what does that look like mechanically?  First of all, when you generate a Rival for your Force-using character, it will always be the Purge Trooper Enemy and they will follow you from planet to planet. Relentlessly.  Secondly, you will get to choose at least one Force Power as described in the Coruscant mod on page 18.  This Force Power list of six abilities reminds me of some of Knights of the Old Republic’s force powers. All of them are useful in 5 Parsecs combat, but I think Deflect is the coolest. Deflect reads, “If this character is equipped with a Lightsaber, they have a 4+ Armor Save against ranged attacks as if from a Shield and if a 6 is rolled on the armor save against a ranged attack it is deflected back to the attacker and resolved against them. If they do not have a Lightsaber equipped, they have a 6+ save instead.”  Reflecting back blaster fire? Hell yeah, that is what Jedi are for. 

Vibro-Ax by PigJazz on Reddit 

There are also revisions for the Weapons table, the Enemies table and Invasion mechanics.  The Weapons table has certain Star Wars reflavorings, a Military Rifle becomes a Blaster Carbine and a Shatter Axe becomes a Vibro Axe, but there are also new Star Wars weapons as well. You have your Sonic Rifle, your Thermal Detonator, as well as others.  The Enemies tables have been revised with different Star Wars entries and creatures. For example, in the Scum and Villainy enemy table, Black Sun Enforcers and Hutta Guard (slow at a Speed of 3”!) and Shadow Collective Commandos are new.  I’m particularly amused by the Young Rancor on the Roving Threats Enemy table. This creature is Huge making it easier to hit, has Luck 3 from its Thick Hide and will move towards the shooter if you hit it with a ranged attack and don’t kill it.  Very thematic, very Star Wars. 

Invasions in the Post Battle Activities phase of the 5 Parsecs book have some changes in the Coruscant conversion.  In Coruscant, Invasions represent the Galactic Empire invading a world to dominate the planet. As such, only encounters where the crew has fought against an Empire enemy will trigger an Invasion, requiring you to carry out Step 6 of the Post-Battle Activities: Check for Invasion!  

If one travels to an Empire controlled planet, as in the Empire is victorious on the Galactic War Progress table after an Invasion has been triggered, a crew can take jobs but only for the Rebel Alliance.  In contrast to the core 5 Parsecs rules where the Unity Victorius entry on the Check for Galactic War Progress table (Post Battle Activities Step 14) makes it more difficult for another Invasion Threat to occur on that planet again, the Coruscant conversion makes it easier for the Empire to Invade again if they lose, as the Galactic Empire is a crushing fist that will brook no failure in allowing a system to slip it’s grasp.  Very Star Wars, very Darth Vader doctrine. 

by Ryan Dening 

Crew Creation using 5 Parsecs from Coruscant

So, I rolled up 6 Star Wars characters using the crew composition tables from the Coruscant conversion. Primarily this was to test the Coruscant systems but it also gave me an excuse to indulge in a bit of creative writing.  I chose to generate the first two crew members purely randomly, then I restricted my rolls to two common aliens, one uncommon alien and one droid; as that distribution felt very Star Wars to me. The Background, Motivation and Class of each character (except for the droid, as they do not use these tables) were randomly chosen.  The captain of the crew was also decided by a die roll, and the names were generated using either of two Star Wars name generators, here and here. 

Here are the results of the random tables with the randomized elements from 5 Parsecs from Coruscant in bold.  

The first member of the crew is a human named Khromi Storm.  This man, from Endor, is a scoundrel with political motivations.  As fate would have it, he is the captain of the worn freighter that he has repurposed and renamed “Stormlord”.  He and his band of lovable rogues hailing from a variety of planets in the Galactic Core and Outer Rim have a common enemy in the Empire and usually take jobs from the Rebel Alliance, but are not above mingling with space scum, criminal syndicates, local governments or corporations; which they view as all the same, really.  I imagine Khromi barreling down the halls of power in Coruscant, knocking on doors of the Senate, his Endor green cloak fanning out behind him.  And of course, getting an equal number of doors shut in his face because he is from Endor and the Ewoks do not have an effective lobbying block. 

Adventurers of all kinds are welcomed onboard the Stormlord, but only WuFei the human colonist from Mandalore has been consistent and stayed with the crew.  A refugee who does not speak about his past or the Mandalorian Civil Wars, he none the less is extroverted and loquacious at ship parties.  The perceptive among the crew sense this is a well-crafted front to cover for personal past experiences, but none disapprove of his easy manner with Rebel patrons who offer the Stormlord’s crew jobs.  In strict contrast to this is WuFei’s utter discipline and devotion to close combat arts. Wielding a blade, or his family’s vibrosword for special missions against the Empire, WuFei eschews ranged combat for taking the fight up close and personal to the enemy.  Whether this is bravery or madness to quench some personal pain, only time will tell.   

photoshopped by WohlfePac 

Sira’kyra the Twi’lek technician is much more than that word implies; she is an engineering genius. Enslaved by the Empire but allowed to continue to exist as a technical specialist in a research outpost, Sira’kyra was worked to the bone, memorizing the ins and outs of every complicated device in the facility.  When the research outpost suffered from a series of mysterious explosions that covered the Stormlord’s escape, and Sira’kyra was “found” to have “stowed away”, none of the crew batted an eye when Khromi promoted her to chief engineer on the spot.   Only a utility belt with a set of tools remains from that lonely Empire facility, tools that Sira’kyra puts to good use with her new found family.   

Game Notes: Her species Twi'lek, Class, and Background give her +3 Savvy already. Savvy is the "I interact with stuff successfully on the battlefield" attribute. Her Utility Belt gear gives an additional +1 Savvy in Battle for a +4 total.  That is absolutely insane and I’ve never randomly rolled a character with that level of competency. 

Apprenticed to Sira’kyra is Gialjarjarir, the Mon Calamari mechanic. Ship hopping from space station to space station to better familiarize himself with different hyperdrive and fusion drive models, Gial, as he is referred to by the crew, is on a mission of discovery to better himself and earn his place as a true journeyman back on the Outer Rim system he calls home.  Having discovered Sira’kyra’s brilliance and knowing a golden opportunity for a master class in education when presented to him, that planned departure back home grows further and further into the future with each adventure.  Having been around more cantinas than most sentients can count, Gial knows how to mingle with the shadier crowd and hold his own.  His marked Sabacc deck has seen much use in such places.     

Game Notes: Gial’s species and his Motivation gives him +2 Savvy.  Since I rolled up another Savvy professional, I made him apprentice to the godly Twi’lek.  I did make one change from the 5 Parsecs from Coruscant text. I randomly rolled Loaded Chance Cubes as gear for Gial, but I decided to reflavor them as a marked Sebacc deck as that makes more in universe Star Wars sense to me. 

Blazeout is the name of the Republic Clone who, like all clones of his type at this time, is a Clone War Veteran and Soldier.  However, even the Republic cloning process seems to have variations, as Blazeout is driven by Fame.  Getting wind of this singular clone trooper who robbed Imperial banks and excelled at deeds of derring-do, but had been jailed and was in need of rescue; Captain Khromi and the gang arranged a harrowing prison breakout, and Blazeout gladly joined the crew as a loyal member. 

E-3PO, source

What would a star ship crew be without a droid? Specifically, a Protocol Droid when one is jumping from system to system, interacting with aliens of all stripes, individuals nefarious and virtuous. W3-Y4 came onboard the Stormlord as a package deal with the Twi’lek Sira’kyra. Originally an average E-3PO Imperial Protocol Droid, that all changed once Sira’kyra removed his restraining bolt and made some interesting modifications.  W3-Y4 followed Sira’kyra to the Stormlord at the time of her escape from the Imperial Research Outpost, and has since acquired a wide wardrobe of clothing from the different cultures he has encountered with the crew.  And then there are the guns. Oh yes, the guns. A fan of the infinite complexity by which groups try to do harm to one another at range; W3-Y4 happily modifies, tinkers, and recombines blasters and other devices in his off time when he is not translating for the crew of the Stormlord or holding heated high stakes negotiations in a corporate boardroom or criminal underground lair. 

Game Notes: I chose the E-3PO Imperial Protocol Droid model based on this youtube video about Star Wars droids here.

Closing Thoughts

5 Parsecs from Coruscant is a great 5 Parsecs from Home, Star Wars conversion that is in production (currently version 0.5 alpha) by one designer, Crimson114.  I am very eager to see what other elements they adapt from Star Wars to integrate into the systems and mechanics that Ivan Sorensen, author of 5 Parsecs, devised.   Though I may not get my 5 Parsecs from Coruscant crew to the wargaming arena to test all of the new weapons and enemies soon, the Coruscant tables are fun to generate interesting backstories for crew members that are fully within the Star Wars universe. 

Mystic Space Playtest 01 After Action Report

 About a month ago I had the opportunity to playtest, in person, the alpha version of the rules for a new wargame called Mystic Space.

Mystic Space is a scifi heroic space fantasy wargame produced and written by Ivan Sorensen, aka Nordic Weasel.  Ivan has created a plethora of solo, coop and verses wargames including 5 Parsecs from Home and 5 Leagues from the Borderlands that are both published by Modiphius Entertainment.  

With Mystic Space, think of colorfully armored armies of humans, and exalted Heroes, along with looming mecha-like Walkers, thundering across the battlefield, heeding the rallying cry and bark of their commanders to rapidly seize objectives and defend them to the last; all for the glory and expansion of their Faction.  In my view, it is a very heroic noble-bright tone with a dash of anime and giant robots, that is missing from most wargames that are focused on the gritty and grimdark.  

Full disclosure, I am on the Nordic Weasel discord and correspond with Ivan, along with playtesting some of his wargames.

I was very lucky in that my playtesting partner, Skeaze, brought two Mystic Space armies (15mm scale) that were sculpted in Blender, 3D printed and even painted, all by his own hand.  Now, how could I refuse?

If you are interested in the digital sculpts that Skeaze has made for Mystic Space, you can check out his Cults3D page, which is here.

Anyway, each side had two Infantry squads and three Heroes.  Mystic Space is a Victory Point accumulation game, and securing the Objectives in the battlespace is one way to accrue Victory Points.  

Infantry is important in Mystic Space because only Infantry squads can claim Objectives. Heroes (at the time of playtesting) could not claim Objectives, but they could contest them.  So, I viewed Heroes as support units for my Infantry.

Claiming an Objective involves an Infantry unit being within two inches of the Objective, and no opposing force being within two inches of that same Objective.

In addition to claiming Objectives, there were rules for obtaining Victory Points by wiping out opposing units.  However, since this was our very first game, and first engagement with the alpha ruleset, we decided to simplify these. 

We decided that reducing an Infantry squad to half strength would result in a gain of two Victory Points, and subsequent annihilation of the same squad would give the opponent one more Victory Point.  Thus, reducing an Infantry squad from full strength to zero members would result in a total of 3 Victory Points gained.

Similarly, the death of a Hero would result in the opponent gaining a total of 3 Victory Points. Thus, if one side was fully wiped out, the opponent would gain a total of 15 Victory Points; 9 from three Heroes and 6 from two Infantry squads.

In the particular scenario we were testing, we decided that we would have four Objectives on the board and that each Objective successfully claimed would give the claimant 1 Victory Point at the end of each turn.

Now onto the forces description.  I mentioned that each side had two Infantry squads and three Heroes.  However, each side was not identical in terms of the type of Infantry and Heroes.  My side was the Terra Hold faction and my forces consisted of 1 Light Infantry Section (eight figures), 1 Assault Infantry Section (six figures), a Leader Hero, Champion Hero, and an Ironclad Hero.  My colors were green. My opponent’s side was the Eden’s Path faction and his army contained 1 Light Infantry Section (again, eight figures), 1 Armored Infantry Section (eight figures), a Leader Hero, Rapid Hero, and Ironclad Hero.

It was not exactly a mirror match but it was close. Light Infantry Sections were sort of your basic army unit. The Assault Infantry Section had decent pistols and more importantly were all armed with melee weapons.  In contrast the Armored Infantry Section fielded by my opponent were a slower moving, but more armored than usual group of eight soldiers armed with rifles and two heavy weapons. 

Both my fellow combatant and I each had a Leader and Ironclad Hero. All Heroes, once activated in a turn, can also activate an Infantry Section within Command Range (6 inches typically).  Leader Heroes have a Command Range of 9 inches, a ranged weapon, a melee weapon, and spells; the latter of which had yet to be fleshed out in the rules so we skipped that entirely.   Ironclad Heroes were a little slower but had the most armor of any unit in the game (4), a ranged weapon that fired twice per shooting action, and a melee weapon.  Ironclad Heroes were very resistant to damage, a factor that we learned throughout the battle.

To differentiate our near identical army loadouts, I had a Champion Hero and my opponent had a Rapid Hero.  A Champion Hero was a melee specialist of sorts; armed with a pistol and a powerful melee weapon.  A Rapid Hero was the fastest Hero in the game; and I expected it to be contesting my Objectives fairly regularly.

Now, there was one additional thing my opponent and I had to consider with each of our force's loadouts. Which units were going to field Trace pistols or Trace guns? Normally in Mystic Space, when a unit shoots another unit, the shooter rolls 1d10 and adds their weapon's accuracy, then adds or subtracts additional factors and compares the result to the value of 10. A result of 10 or higher is a hit, and misses do nothing. Trace firearms function differently. They are essentially railguns and the shooter draws a straight line from the shooting unit to their target. All units that intersect that line are hit, even if friendly. No 1d10 to hit roll is required. A large piece of terrain (like a cliff face) will interrupt the line however.

The Light Infantry Sections and the Champion could field a Trace gun and Trace pistol, respectively. Although, those units that were hit by a Trace weapon will have the chance for an armor save; the way the trace weapons could target multiple figures in a squad made us both pause and consider the arrangement of the figures in our squads when they were deployed on the battlefield and when they had to squeeze into smaller corridors on the map. After all, we didn't want to give the opposing player any advantage of automatically scoring a hit on multiple figures in a single shooting action!

With these thoughts in mind, it was time for deployment of the troops. The battlemap had five major pieces of terrain on it. One piece was close to each corner and a group of ruins was present in the middle. Four Objectives were placed on the table. One Objective each, were placed near me and my opponent's deployment corners. The other two Objectives were in the middle of the map. These were the toxic barrels in the ruins you can see in the first picture (below), and a group of crates tucked away in the crook of the green-topped plateau. These middle Objectives would be the most contested areas during the conflict. 

Deployment was interesting. We used the following rules that may not reflect the final Mystic Space product. Each player placed a number of deployment markers on the battlefield equal to the number of forces they had. We numbered the deployment markers 1-5 (we each had 5 units to deploy) and took turns rolling 1d6. Depending on the number that came up on the 1d6, we would remove the deployment token with that number and place a unit of our choosing on that location on the board. If someone rolled a 6, we rerolled of course, given that we only had 5 units each.

Another note about deployment. The robot miniatures that you will see in the pictures we used as proxies to represent our Ironclad Heroes. There are giant robots in Mystic Space. They are tentatively called Walkers. At the time of the playtest, however, rules for Walkers had not been fully developed.

The first turn proceeded as expected given the layout of terrain and Objectives in the battlespace. I was lucky enough to will the initiative roll, so I went first and immediately had my Assault Infantry Section secure the Objective that was in my corner on top of a plateau. Claiming that Objective would result in production of one Victory Point per turn at the end of the turn. The rules do not require devoting a unit of Infantry to guard the Objective in order to generate Victory Points. This is great because it encourages players to advance all of their forces into the fray. My opponent executed the same plan with his units, claiming the Objective (a satellite dish) that was in the middle of a crater, in his corner of the field. 

In addition, during the first turn, I also rushed my Light Infantry Section into the ruins in the middle of the map to claim the Objective there. The Objective in the ruins was a pile of leaking toxic barrels. Perhaps that was an ill omen for what would happen to my Light Infantry in the ruins! Anyway, at the end of turn one and I was sitting pretty on two Victory Points.

Turn two arose and the shooting began in earnest. My opponent jockeyed for position, arranging his Leader and Ironclad Heroes as well as his Light Infantry within the visual arc of my Infantry squad that had holed up in the ruins, guarding the toxic barrels Objective. I suffered a withering hail of fire. The result was that five of my Infantry, out of eight soldiers, had been penetrated by lasers or burnt to a crisp by plasma fire.

Things were not looking good. However, my much-diminished Infantry squad rallied, successfully removed the panic markers caused by the decimating firefight, and were able to return fire. Shocked that my Light Infantry force was so close to destruction so soon, I moved my Champion Hero into the ruins to support them.

Another flash point was erupting. Due south of the ruins and in a narrow corridor bordered by crumbling stone and two grassy plateaus, my Assault Infantry had spied and were in range of my opponent's colorful Armored Infantry. Accompanied by an Ironclad and Leader Heroes, my Assault troopers fired enfilade into the mass of enemy troops, inflicting three casualties (denoted by the smoke tokens in the below picture). The opposing Hero, the Rapid, stood and delivered; making all of his armor saves against the firearms of my Ironclad Hero and shooting back with impunity.

Meanwhile, in the ruins, the remainder of my Light Infantry screamed and fell under the combine arms of my opponent's Light Infantry Section and Ironclad Hero. Brimming with confidence, the opposing Leader (figure with a red pistol and blue sword) engaged my Champion (pants painted in green) in close combat. He also proceeded to engage his remaining Light Infantry Section with my Champion as well, hoping to gain advantage and dominate my Champion by obtaining bonuses to hit by surrounding him.

Satisfied that his forces would wipe out my Champion, my opponent moved his Ironclad from the ruins combat to the southern narrow corridor flash point. Things looked far from great for me.

However, that is when we came face to face with how dominant a Champion's melee skills were. My Champion weathered a storm of blows from Hero and Infantry alike, and then returned blow for blow with force and honor. When the butcher's bill came due, my opponent's Leader lay dead on the ruined ground and two men of the plucky but foolish opposing Infantry squad were smashed to a pulp.

The conflict in the southern corridor was claiming lives and becoming tense. As soon as my counterpart's Ironclad came to support his diminishing number of Armored Infantry, the armor save luck of his Rapid Hero ran out. My Ironclad finally finished off the Rapid in a barrage of Injector rifle fire.

The close quarters firefight quickly turned into a muddy, bloody melee where no side was spared. My Assault Infantry engaged his Armored Infantry and slowly, painfully, the slightly superior armaments of the Assault squad ground the superior numbers of the Armored Infantry to dust. Two lone Assault squaddies stood triumphant atop of a mound of bodies, heaving with labored breaths and brandishing their Honor Blades in victory. 

In the central ruins, my Champion valiantly parried strikes and withstood blows that would crumple a lesser human, but quantity has a quality all of its own, and my Champion disappeared under the tide of the opposing Infantry's pummeling rifle-butts and thrashing fists.

All told, we tallied up the casualties and Objectives that accrued Victory Points and came to a conclusion. My opponent stood tall with pride, having claimed victory from the jaws of defeat by a single point! 

Mystic Space is shaping up to be a great game with lots of action, drama and tactical decisions on display. More current editions include rules for the giant robots called Walkers, special bonuses for Factions, and lore about the conflict and the major players within it. Even more is to come including a Spell list and rules for Faction Artifacts. I'm very excited about the developments and I can't wait to play it again. 

Thoughts on Ash Barker’s Foreword on Skirmish games from Last Days : Zombie Apocalypse

 I bought Ash Barker's, of Guerrilla Miniature Games fame, 2018 zombie skirmish game Last Days: Zombie Apocalypse yesterday and I am reading through it.  I love it when wargame authors go over their creative process and I enjoyed the foreword by Ash.  Specifically, he was talking about wanting his game to produce three things while a player engages with it: Memorable Moments, Crackerjacks and Ever-Afters.  I liked his description of these three elements; I'll keep them in mind when writing my own stuff. I think, in an example of convergent evolution, Ivan Sorensen’s works also includes these three elements, specifically in 5 Parsecs from Home, and these three elements are one of the reasons I like good skirmish games.

Memorable Moments are just that: the thrill of escaping a firefight with one hit point left, making an almost impossible shot, things that can really put a spotlight on a character in a skirmish game. Crackerjacks, as Ash describes, are the feelings of anticipation you get when you can possibly obtain something really cool, specifically like a treasure from a skirmish game. It is often the reward at the end of the scenario that you acquire, regardless how beat up your skirmish units are.  Ever-Afters are the "threads that tie the games together". Ash says creative players will think about how the story continues after the skirmish ends or what happens in between skirmishes to motivate the characters to get from story point A to B. 

When I was writing up my 5 Parsecs After Action Report, the skirmish details made the narrative I was weaving around the characters emerge organically and logically.  To be frank, thanks to Ivan's tables and details, specifically about the background of the skirmish characters, a cohesive plot emerges very easily.  And the characters lived on in my mind, making it even more simple to figure out why they would have their next skirmish.  Anyway, I'm liking Last Days so far.

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. 

5 Parsecs from Home After Action Report 2

 This is a after action report of a 5 Parsecs from Home game that continues the adventures of Captain Bjorn Ivannox and the crew randomly rolled up here.  This is a narrative story version of the events that happened. A look behind the scenes at the in game events that influenced and generated this narrative will be posted soon. 

*****

Art by Christian Quinot in Five Parsecs from Home 3rd Edition, p40

Droplets sizzled on the concrete ground as the party of four stalked through the sundown shadows of the abandoned market town.  Anriel, the soldier, slowed to a halt in front of the others.  He made some adjustments to the tracker sight on his well-worn infantry laser as the acid rain formed rivulets down his Plas-Tek hooded poncho and spattered around his feet.  Instinctively, his gloved hands went through the motions of maintenance, actions he had repeated with this weapon on countless worlds in countless environmental conditions. It would work, he knew, even here on Lanrezac Gamma’s ruined boom-and-bust towns.

He snapped alert, mentally shaking himself. Nostalgia leads to distraction; and distraction on a mission can get you killed. He flicked on his throat mic. “Check-in time. Anriel, point. Sound off.”

 “Levian Nuende, second,” the mic crackled as the team’s counterfeiter and all-around scavenger responded, hunkered down in cover against the concrete of an empty raised plaza and racking the slide of his colony rifle. 

“Captain reporting, third,” murmured Bjorn Ivannox, glare sword bouncing in its sheath on his hip as he turned around slowly with colony rifle in hand, scanning the red-orange horizon for shapes. Eventually Bjorn’s gaze fell on Fallox Encia behind him, the last member of their party.

“Fallox here, rearguard,” chirped the musician as she readjusted her Plas-Tek poncho so the shatter axe affixed to her back was more comfortable.  Fallox Encia saw Bjorn’s look and gave him a wink, showing off her glitter encrusted eyelids as she gripped her infantry laser.  An unearthly pale face married to phosphorescent strands of purple and pink in her half-shaved brunette hair screamed that she had just come from a discotech.  In fact, Fallox had just headlined there; howling into a megaphone for all her screamcore fans just a scant couple of hours earlier. There hadn’t been time to change. Just throw on a protective poncho, grab a gun and go. 

Instinctively Bjorn crouched, mirroring Levian Nuende’s stance. The subtle tap-tap of rain on the abandoned buildings was only broken by the faint splashing sounds their boots made when disturbing the pools of the caustic downpour.  In this moment of quiet, Bjorn ran through his memory again. 

Recall pulled him back to the meet they had a few hours before.  Piklov Demir, their resident petty criminal, had been in deep conversation with a hologram before they got the nod that the team was to convene in an upscale rhinox steakhouse with a hungry patron.  Piklov Demir and Lemoes Gallo were still injured and were left in the ship’s sick bay as the remaining four crew members booked it to the glitterati sector of the spaceport to make their appointment.  

Arnav Ton was waiting for them, in impeccably tailored clothing and extravagantly cybernetic teeth.  Despite himself, Bjorn was fascinated by how Arnav’s palladium teeth…shifted and remolded themselves to finely cut the rare slice of steak Arnav was masticating. After a modest glass of red wine more expensive than a night out on the town for the entire crew, Arnav Ton outlined his need for the mercenaries to see after his interests in an abandoned area of the planet.  Bjorn remembered eying the empty wineglass and being dogged with his negotiations.  Arnav had agreed to hazard pay provided the team addressed his needs immediately.  Bjorn thought of Piklov and Lemoes still in the sick bay as he secured the promise of extra credits with a firm handshake. What he couldn’t forget, was that Arnav’s teeth mimicked those of a shark when he smiled.    

Breathing out slow and coming out of his reverie, Captain Bjorn racked the slide in anticipation.  With a modicum of mental effort his VR implant overlayed his vision with distance and tracking telemetry in brilliant goldenrod and phosphorescent green.  The team was only five klicks from the zone. Soon credits would be in hand and then—then he heard it. His name. Echoing from every building and tower in the abandoned marketplace. 

“Bjorn Ivannox!” the echo resounded over the empty plaza. Or once empty plaza. Disciplined footfalls and short, muffled commands of a cadre of men came from the buildings north of him.  Bjorn shot a glance at Fallox Encia.  She was looking around wildly, but caught his look and dropped to the ground immediately, pointing her infantry laser in all directions until she focused her attentions to the north. 

“Anriel Breckett!” boomed the mysterious voice again and Anriel, in the lead of their line, sprinted west to the cover of a hab tower, where he crouched. “Who the FUCK knows my last name,” Anriel exclaimed over coms, his targeting sight pinging with four hotspots detected to his north east, moving in and spreading out in a tactical formation across the plaza.  

“Is this a setup?” Bjorn thought, his memory briefly flashing back to Arnav Ton’s wicked shark-smile. “What do you want?” Bjorn yelled out, feverishly analyzing the battlespace for targets, chokepoints and kill zones. 

“Your Balance Is Due!” came a very unfriendly laugh as a figure appeared in the middle of the plaza, clad in a redlined leather trench coat and black brimmed hat, dropped a microphone device and crushed it with his heel. Something whirred in his left eye and he brandished his triple barrel shotgun, heavy with electronics and modifications. 

“Anriel! What can you see?” Bjorn queried over the comms channel. “Four, well, that’s five targets now,” Anriel groused. “That’s got to be a Bounty Tracker, and the others…black carapace armor and orange insignia’s…shit. That’s the snake and column, Captain.” Anriel reported grimly. 

A snake coiling around a column. A stylized combination of the letters “I” and “S”.  That could only mean one thing. The Integrated Syndicate had found them and had them cornered in an ambush, Bjorn thought as his adrenaline surged. For a millisecond Bjorn thought of his family, of lasers piercing the skies, of fire and death. His blood boiled.     

“Listen up,” the Captain spoke in a clear but low tone over the comms, “I know these bastards. Criminals of the worst kind.  I know they have a mark on me, and they’ve got a beef with Anriel as well; but you two, Levian and Fallox, if the situation gets too hot, you can both leave. Anriel and I will keep them occupied.”

“No sir!” Levian Nuende stated. “Captain, you have given me a second chance, a chance for a life with order and opportunity. If you stand, I stand.” Levian stated and pounded his fist into his chest. 

“Where would I be if you didn’t take me on when I hid away on your ship when you refueled at Nasic’s Lament?” Fallox Encia exploded. “I’d still be a servant to the dammed Ash People.  I would have never touched a musical instrument at all!” She shook her hair out of her eyes. 

Grimly, Bjorn Ivannox noted the slow-but-disciplined advance of his five enemies. “Alright then,” he said, raising his colony rifle to his shoulder and looking down the sights. “Let’s give them hell.” And a brief but defiant warcry came from the plucky crew. 

(First Round)

Bjorn and Levian Nuende fired within seconds of each other.  Both colony rifles spat out three round bursts, targeting the closest enemy, the Bounty Tracker. His trophies jangled on his belt, and his trench coat flapped in the wind as he dodged the fire, laughing with dark joy to be in the thick of battle as he started advancing and taking the stairstep on the north end of the plaza. 

Filled with adrenaline, Fallox Encia dove up the stairs of the plaza from the south, skidding to a stop as she slid, crouching against the plassteel fence that bisected the flat rectangle of the plaza. She swallowed hurriedly and readjusted her infantry laser to acquire a target. 

“Gaining higher ground”, Anriel’s comm crackled as the veteran soldier immediately threw himself into ascending a vertical fire escape ladder that would take him to the top of the four-story abandoned hab building, west of the plaza, he had been taking cover against. 

(Second Round)

One of the Guild Troopers in black carapace armor and orange IS insignia began making hand gestures to his team. For his trouble, Fallox Encia slicked her hair back under her hood and took a shot at him. The blast went wide. “Readjusting!” she cried as a hail of bullets came back for her in return.  One bullet hit home, exploding against her shoulder and spinning her around so hard her head slammed into the plassteel fence. Fallox gasped and fell unconscious from the wicked whiplash. 

The crew and its enemies exchanged further blasts of fire and laser beams, with nothing connecting.  Grimly Anriel climbed, his body on the west side of the hab stacks so he was safe from the field of fire. With one final pull he jumped onto the rooftops and strode over some forlorn cheerily colored banner of better times.  Crouching against a pile of boxes, Anriel surveyed the battlefield and began to plot his next move. 

(Third Round)

Bjorn surveyed the scene, his VR implant making it a dazzling display of real shadows highlighted with goldenrod and blazing red. One of the Guild Troopers was wielding a plasma rifle. “Can’t have that,” Bjorn muttered, slamming a burst of bullets into the concrete behind the trooper as he missed his shot. 

“Targeting the big guns,” Anriel’s voice came, calm and collected, as the plasma rifle Guild Trooper dropped to his knees to avoid a laser blast that would have bisected his helmet. 

Levian Nuende howled as he stepped out of cover and opened up on the four Guild Troopers, desperate for a lucky shot.  It was not to be however, as two Guild Troopers turned and fired down the plaza, military rifles making sounds of rock-and-roll as Levian got lit up and planted face first into the puddles of acid rain.  

(Fourth Round)

“We’ve taken casualties!” Anriel voice came through clear on the comms as he exchanged fire from the rooftop with a Guild Trooper on the ground. “I --,” Bjorn was cut off as he quickly wrenched his colony rifle away from an adjacent explosion that nearly ended him. “Just focus on killing these bastards!” Bjorn exclaimed, reloading and repositioning behind cover. 

Peeking up from his foxhole, the Guild Trooper aimed his plasma rifle at the demolished wall Bjorn was hiding behind. Adjusting a few settings, the weapon powered up until there was a *crack* as a laser blast from the top of the four-story hab block penetrated the charging plasma rifle.  There was barely a scream at all from the doomed Guild Trooper. Anriel surveyed the resulting exploding plasma ball as it fell and smoldered onto the concrete.  Disciplined, the Guild Troopers and Bounty Tracker eyed Anriel in the hab tower warily, but they repositioned as doctrine taught them and began to spread out towards Captain Bjorn Ivannox.

(Fifth Round)

Grim realization hit Bjorn as he saw the Bounty Tracker began sprinting towards his position, totems and trophies jangling against his belt and bandoleers.  Quickly Bjorn cracked open an emergency transmitter and began chanting codewords in a low voice. “Indigo Stardust Alpha Chi Sigma, initiate!” he rasped, his hands convulsively shaking as he heard a whirring from above him.  The Bounty Tracker’s left eye deployed a lens with crosshairs and its telescopic chamber whirred as it retreated back into his eye socket. The triple barreled shotgun appeared in Bjorn’s vision, it’s holes as dark as the void of space. “Be seeing you,” the Bounty Tracker smiled like a shark. 

5 Parsecs from Home Interlude

 The room was silent, save for the rhythmic wheezing of the breathing machine and the man’s inhalation and expulsion of his lit cigar.  Two men, sitting still as marble, were at repose in chairs facing the man, across from his authentic teak desk.  Eyes shut, the two were like twins in suits, giving off no sign of discomfort, metabolism or life. Dulled chrome feeder lines had been grafted into the men’s spinal columns, snaking from each man to input ports hidden in the shadows somewhere in the teakwood desk.

A holographic red triangle flared to life above the desk, pulsing and bobbing like a maniac faerie. Reams of data began to unfurl as from a majestic tapestry in translucent form in front of the man.  Planetary climate, Jump data, ship manifests, economic flow with the Exchange, psychohistory projections of police overreach, wanted posters, spacecraft transponder catalogues, closeup views of surveillance videos at space docks and bars.  The man exhaled and the scent of prima tobacco filled the room.  The red triangle pulsed and danced in expectation.  A door slid open with a whisper and a figure strode in.  Metal jangled from the figure’s belt and bandolier as he approached the desk, forming an uncouth counterpoint to the laboring of the respiratory device and the occasional puff of the cigar.   

“His location, you have it.” rumbled the figure. It was a statement, not a question.  The machines behind the man at the desk wheezed and shuddered.  The man flicked an accusatory finger at the figure. The holographic red triangle obeyed and skittered across the desk, disappearing at the edge.  The figure’s arm implants flared to life, a holographic cerulean triangle now hovering and pulsing with mischief above his forearm. The artificial glow illuminated the figure’s scarred face, reflected against the state-of-the-art optics in his left eye and was swallowed up by his broad brimmed black hat.  Data coursed past his artificial eye and across the holo display in his forearm.  The figure smiled, an uncomfortable and transient expression.

“Be seeing you” the figure stated, turning on his heel and rounding on the door.  The door remained sealed.  “What is—," the figure began, turning around.  One of the seated men’s eyes flew open, unleashing an emerald green glow, as his mouth worked, giving form to the syllables from dry lips. “Please, dear Tracker, take a squad of certified Guild Troopers with you. You will find them most capable in your endeavors.”

“I work alone,” growled the Bounty Tracker as his frame bristled. Totems and trophies jingled and jangled on his belt. “Renegotiation requires a commensurate increase in price.”

“Your terms are more than acceptable, good Tracker,” the green-eyed man said, spittle forming at the corner of his mouth. “The Syndicate insists.”

“Have them ready to board the Maculata in two standard hours,” the Bounty Tracker grunted, his cyber eye focusing on the image of a bearded face on his holo display. The whisper of the door disappearing into the celling was his only answer and he took the hint quickly.

Moments passed as the Bounty Tracker stalked off down the halls.  There was a faint hum in the room. Data was exchanged, plans were made, communications were correlated and finances were moved. In seconds a virtual snake had been assembled and was coiled to strike. “I shall oversee this personally,” the man with the glowing emerald eyes spoke as he reached up behind him and swiftly jerked the metal cord out of his hind brain.  There was a sickening squelching sound as neurons, silicon, flesh and blood vessels rearranged themselves. The man behind the desk smiled and the expression was mirrored on his cohort, now free of the umbilical. “We shall have Bjorn Ivannox in our hands within days.” None could say which man spoke this line or which man’s smile was wider.    

*****

This interlude was preparation and introduction for the villains of the upcoming 5 Parsecs from Home After Action Report 2.  The Integrated Syndicate (name randomly chosen) is the criminal element Rival of both Captain Bjorn Ivannox and Anriel.  During squad creation I randomly rolled up a Rival that was a criminal element for both characters, so I decided that they were hunted by the same organization.  When I rolled for Rivals checks for the second campaign turn, I included two chances that the Integrated Syndicate would show up; one for Bjorn Ivannox and one for Anriel.  In preparation for the Battle Phase of the second campaign turn, I rolled up a Unique Individual, a Bounty Tracker, that was going to aid the Integrated Syndicate’s forces. 

5 Parsecs from Home After Action Report 1

 This is a after action report of a wargame skirmish of a 5 Parsecs from Home game with the previous posts' randomly generated characters.  I have taken the most interesting events of each round and narrated them. Only some actions (like characters stunning other characters) that were not of tactical consequence were omitted. 

*****

The ornithopter’s frame shook violently as the craft juked and swerved over the belching smokestacks and humming power wires of the industrial center below. Captain Bjorn Ivannox swayed in his harness webbing, affixed to a hook in the ceiling, as he reviewed the battlefield data with his crew through his VR implant. Brilliant goldenrod arrows shimmered against an oldtech background of phosphorescent green lines, denoting the industrial battlespace his crew was about to engage in.

“How many contacts?” asked the soldier Anriel, not looking up from adjusting his tracking sight on the lean and smooth infantry laser. “Should be six at most,” Leomes Gallo chimed in, the technician studiously checking the social media presence of the Black Dragons, the asteroid pirate faction they were about to ambush. “Six. A match to the crew’s numbers,” Bjorn thought.

Bjorn leaned back in the webbing and ran through his memory of the past 24 hours. At a speakeasy, The Thirsty Engine, a corpo drenched in sweat had barged in and openly offered a bounty on the Black Dragons. Something involving a deal gone bad and a gene-locked suitcase full of data on the site. Sensing a good opportunity when he smelled it, Bjorn immediately riled up his crew and got them transport to the industrial zone on a creaky Shrike Mark II ornithopter. Flying low to the horizon, this dubious transport would cloak their approach from spaceship-seeking sensors and afford them a fast evac if things went wrong.

Bjorn waved away the VR display and took a steady look at his other companions. Fallox Encia was leaning down in her webbing-hammock, one hand tapping out a beat on her music synthesizer while the other was carefully locking the thermal clip into her well-worn scrap pistol. Levian Nuende was running his fingers over his shaved head as he studied the VR map of the battlespace, his blast pistol locked and loaded on his hip. Piklov Demir was polishing the blade of his brutal buster sword and nodding absently with his headphones on. Bjorn knew from experience that Piklov was listening to some commentator or another describing the fluctuations of planetary commodities and intersystem cryptocurrency. Always rooting after fat stacks of credits, that one.

“Five minutes until drop!” Bjorn yelled over the comms as his crew made last minute preparations to their various implements of murder and mayhem. Bjorn’s VR display crackled into life again with golden triangles and red lines warning of atmospheric disturbances. A storm front was mixing with the localized industrial pollution to a dense heady smog and gloom over the battlespace. “Expect smog as thick as tar!” Bjorn announced, “Visibility limited.” Piklov glanced up at Fallox with a savage grin and both crewmembers clanged their respective melee weapons together in excitement. “Should be good for some up close and personal action!” Piklov exclaimed.

The ornithopter buzzed up and down over the dropzone. Six filamentous ropes sprang from the bottom of the transport and the crew slid down as one unit, Bjorn touching earth first.

(First Round)

A couple of quick finger gestures, and Bjorn had ordered the squad to form out in a battle line in the midst of the industrial smog, each member securing themselves in cover behind a fabbed piece of concrete or a reinforced steel fence.

Bjorn peered out over the edge of his barricade, the green image enhancement of his VR clarifying murky shadows and formless obstructions as towering concrete pillars and a mess of industrial robots parked in stiff silence.

There, the entire squad heard it; radio crackles of men chuckling, at leisure. Coming from the forest of concrete pillars to the north. Just then, Piklov made a move.

Clutching, then parkouring over the chain linked fence, Pikov was already in motion as he saw it. A shiny suitcase propped up, forgotten, against an automated forklift; the gene-lock signature on it glowing steady phosphorescent and green. Payday.

Pikov’s heavy bootsteps echoed on the hard surface of the industrial park. The radio chatter cutoff abruptly and curt orders were barked over the enemy intercoms as Pilkov slid next to the forklift, slamming hard into its frame, his buster sword on his back bouncing in its sheath.

Bjorn could see a rare ray of sunlight shine off of Pilkov’s gold tooth as he grabbed the suitcase in triumph, then immediately hit the deck to avoid a spray of gunfire from what could only be the Black Dragon pirates saturating the area with military rifles on full rock-and-roll.

(Second Round)

“Contact! Contact!,” Bjorn yelled, sprinting towards the reinforced fence previously vacated by Pilkov as his sight filled with glimmering red crosshairs now moving in formation to the north. “Six! Count them, six contacts! Lets do this!” Bjorn roared as he ducked his head from a burst of fire that narrowly missed his camo beret.

Far to his right, Anriel coolly took aim and breathed out slow. The was the bark of pain from the Black Dragon’s side as Anriel’s infantry laser cooked one of the armor plates on the man that was shouting orders over the radio comms. Damn. Solid miss.

Levian Nuende sped over to the fence next to Bjorn and immediately spun his blast pistol up in a snap shot. “FUCK FUCK” came the response from the Black Dragons as the radio commands cut off abruptly and the man in Anriel’s sights crumpled to the floor. “Game over, Game OVER,” one of the pirates screamed upon seeing his commander bleeding on the floor. He turned tail and fled. Four contacts left.

(Third Round)

Breathing raggedly, Piklov Demir sprinted back towards Bjorn’s firing line, adrenaline and residual chems pumping in time with his heartbeat. As Piklov broke cover, one of the Black Dragons, the left part of his face ripped and replaced with targeting optics, casually spun up an oversized revolver and fired two incendiary red bolts downrange at Piklov. One bolt clanged against the gene-locked suitcase and ricocheted down the industrial park to explode into a mass of burning sticky chems. “Oh shit, that’s clingfire,” Piklov managed to think as the second bolt slammed into his back and turned him into an unfortunate inferno.

(Fourth Round)

“Piklov’s down!” Levian Nuende shouted to Bjorn who was adjacent to him behind the fence. “Then do something about it, goddamn it!” Bjorn roared back, spittle flying as he surveyed the incoming red-crosshairs encroaching on their position. Sweat apparent on his shaved head, Levian took a heartbeat to aim and then pulled the trigger on a Black Dragon to his right. The Dragon’s faceplate crumpled and the man shivered visibly, but he continued to rush forwards after a moment.

But that moment was all that Leomes Gallo needed. In an impromptu sniper’s crouch, his hand cradling a well-worn colony rifle, Gallo fired and the encroaching pirate who had paused fell to the ground, senseless.

The Black Dragons continued their advance. With the suitcase in sight, they were out for blood.

Meanwhile on the right flank, soldier Anriel was busy. Adjusting his position and toggling his range finder, he targeted the profile of the Black Dragon with the devastating clingfire revolver. A beam fired away. Miss. Not to be outdone, the Black Dragon fired his revolver back, missing twice.

(Fifth Round)

Eyes narrowed, Anriel fired off an angry last shot and leapt over the barricade back to safety. To his surprise, the laser connected, drawing a cry of pain as a cauterized line nearly bisected the revolver man’s shoulder. Unsurprisingly, the bark of a command was followed by the sounds of full auto military rifles firing against Anriel’s barricade. He was pinned down, but luckily unharmed and he knew it; he hunched over into a crouch and waited for a break in the action.

On the left flank, Fallox Encia kept up a steady flow of covering fire. Annoyed, a Black Dragon took aim and fired at Fallox’s exposed wrist on rock-and-roll. Struck, Fallox howled and slammed into the ground, her body quickly going into shock. Bjorn hissed through his teeth and mentally subtracted one on his side from the fight. The Black Dragons’ odds had just narrowed and he need to do something and do it fast.

One of the pirates had advanced out of position to get a good angle on Anriel. Leomes Gallo took advantage of this mistake by leaning out from behind cover and shooting the man center of mass. The Black Dragon whipped his rifle around at Leomes, bullets spraying a deadly rain in the area, as Captain Bjorn Ivannox seized the initiative, climbing over a reinforced fence and leaping, swinging his glowing glare sword down in a powerful arc that cleaved through the Black Dragon’s rifle and into his groin.

(Sixth Round)

His opponent finished, Bjorn scrambled toward the frozen forklift for cover, but it was too late. Bjorn had managed to cut down the Black Dragons to two men, but he left himself exposed and the man with the clingfire revolver shot two bolts, both impacting his lower body, starting an instant inferno. Bjorn was down, insensate as fire whorled around him. The Black Dragon laughed as his facial optics whirred and pulsed, searching for another victim.

The one remaining pirate with the military rifle fired upon Leomes Gallow, seeking an easy kill. “Fuck it,” spat Leomes, leaning out of cover again and exchanging fire with the pirate. Both men cried out as they were wounded, but the Black Dragon screamed louder; there was a hole in his midsection from Anriel’s laser beam coming from the right flank.

(Seventh Round)

With a speed that suggested chemical augmentation and desperation, the revolver wielding Black Dragon all by his lonesome, sprinted over to the wounded Leomes and giggled as he raised his gun and fired.

“Damn you!” Levian Nuende shouted and fired his blast pistol wildly downrange. But it was the soldier’s well developed cold focus that ended the engagement. Anriel’s sights coalesced at the base of the laughing Black Dragon’s spine. He pulled the trigger. There was no recoil. There was no sound as the target simply vaporized into a fine red mist.

***

Bjorn tossed and turned, groaning at the bright light piercing through his eyelids and the incessant beeping slowly reaching his ears. His nose filled with the scents of antiseptic and sterile gauze. He was thirsty, so thirsty. He coughed and nearly gagged at his dry throat. “Report” he managed to croak out.

“You’re in Med Bay” came Anriel’s gruff voice. “I can tell,” Bjorn rasped, bright lights and colored sensors assaulting his vision as his eyes fluttered open. “What happened?”

Anriel just laughed and slid his fingers into his beltloops. “All crew accounted for. Two have more serious wounds than you, old timer.” The old soldier nodded to the table in front of him, “And we secured this.” The green light of the gene-lock glimmered tranquilly on its indestructible steel suitcase.

Payday, Captain Bjron Ivannox thought as the warm inviting blackness crept up behind his eyes then gently engulfed him.

5 Parsecs from Home Review

 5 Parsecs from Home is a Sci-fi Solo Wargaming system (called an Adventure Wargame) where you assemble or generate a crew from random tables and then skirmish with procedurally generated enemies. The hefty element to the game is the Campaign system where your crew can develop their skills, pay off the loan for their spaceship, get into trouble, and buy and trade weapons and gear between battles. It also includes robust Patron, Job, Rival and Quest subsystems.

The combat is punchy and quickly resolved. One battle will take about an hour and there are a large variety of enemy types.

The combination of solo skirmish wargame and campaign system creates a rich environment for writing prompts which can easily be turned into a narrative. That is what I have done here. Below is the 5 Parsecs from Home squad creation session. The actual wargame skirmish will come in another post.

5 Parsecs from Home is $20 for the pdf on DriveThru or $35 for the physical hardback plus pdf at Modiphius.


Squad Creation

I decided to let the random tables whip up a crew for me. Since I am terrible at making up names, I also turned to an online randomizer for scifi names. The results surprised me at how much they made up a cohesive and interesting back story. Randomized elements from Five Parsecs are in bold.

I picked my first randomly generated crew member to be the leader, sight unseen.

Bjorn Ivannox is the captain’s name. He grew up in a wealthy merchant family, but for him a safe and comfortable life was not in the cards. His family was brought low and raided by a criminal element, that he has vowed revenge on. To prosecute his personal war against the criminal enterprise he has become a spacefaring nomad, bouncing around the galaxy from planet to planet in his retired troop transport ship; taking on all sorts of work to fund his mission. During his travels, Bjorn has acquired a Nano-Doc which he uses to keep himself in fighting shape and ahead of his addictions as he quests among the stars.

Anriel, just Anriel is a taciturn soldier. Leading the life of a drifter from spaceport to spaceport Anriel picked up a smattering of survival skills and experience in odd jobs before he eventually wandered towards the military. Discipline and brutality became his daily bread as he was shipped off to planet after planet in the Guard, part of one Company’s Dirtkicker’s Dozen or another’s. He doesn’t say much about his previous billets, all he does is polish his standard issue steel boots carefully and keep his infantry laser well maintained. Anriel bonded with Bjorn over their shared desire for revenge over those criminal elements who disrupted their lives. Anriel however will not talk about his personal grudge; he just serves as Bjorn’s enforcer and first mate on the ship, and he kills on command.

Fallox Encia. You may have heard of her from the resident spacers’ youth, talking about how her melodious cello over dubstep and screamcore tones is just electric man, electric! An irrepressible and unfatigable artist, this music-mixer and instrumentalist par excellence, nearly never made it to the top 1000 space-billboard charts. Armed with only a scrap pistol the plucky Fallox escaped from a subjugated colony on an alien world that Bjorn and company had decided to land on for refueling. Bartering the use of her personal repair bot (stolen of course) as collateral for oxygen and food on the spaceship, Fallox now peruses her desire for Galactic fame along with carrying out any mercenary work the captain finds for the crew.

Levian Nuende wasn’t worth a dram of good air on his old home. Always a scavenger, a schemer and when necessary, a thief in the slums of the space station that raised him; Levian learned to survive to adulthood with a little help from his genius counterfeiting abilities (Fake IDs) and a shadowy private organization that stepped in from time to time to keep Levian on the right side of an airlock. Armed with a potent blast pistol, Levian now seeks order in the universe. For Levian that order is made manifest by carrying out sometimes inscrutable instructions from his shadow patrons.

Lemoes Gallo. Holy man of the ship. He jokes that the only reason that Bjorn and Anriel keep him on is for luck, and the fact that he knows a Firebird 1200 engine backwards and forwards in his sleep. Born on a backwater isolationist enclave, faith was an omnipresent presence for Gallo. Every moment in life and star in the sky was a gift from the Universal; and the Universal was present in all things, even technology, Gallo drones on and on to the crew. The ship’s technician, most crew-mates put up with him since he is responsible for the life-support and mess hall auto-chef. Gallo’s only heirloom of home is a dusty bipod, and a careworn colony rifle which he tinkers with in his off time, humming psalms to himself.

Piklov Demir. The scourge of the orphan utility program he was born into. Supposed to be raised into upstanding citizens of planetary administration and the military alike, Piklov turned his back on all that and began a life of petty criminality. If there was something you wanted, Piklov could acquire it by means fair or foul, all for a price. Constantly on the outs in his orphanage, Piklov was voted most likely to be spaced in his class until the influence of a wealthy individual took a shine to Piklov’s machinations and bailed him out of jail occasionally. Worshiping on the altar of Wealth, Piklov repays his patron by taking on increasingly more dangerous missions that reap progressively more lucrative rewards.