Yet another Kickstarter RPG that blossomed beyond their initial pitch. We're going to run a one shot tonight due to some scheduling issues with our current game master.
The mechanics are a little bit blurry to me but hopefully we'll figure it out during play (and this post may well include post-game updates).
The basic premise is that the rodents and other critters are left over from the Forerunners, near mythical beings who left the stations behind for some unknown reason. Not sure how they made the F-Ring of Saturn habitable, but I can go with large enclosed rings: basically they started with various habitats, and have connecting rail lines between pods. The pods over time expanded and more more the ring was habitable. So if I get around to making maps, I can use them for Traveller as well (just scale up from the rodent sized trains!)
So, next day...
We ran the one shot. We had Bucky Bridgewater, a plucky thrill-seeking Mouse. Highly athletic with combat armor and a revolver. Miss Fay Meadowheart, a sneaky, espionage Mouse with a high charisma and excellent espionage skills. They were approached by Dr. Crackers in the Sweet Dreams Are Made of Cheese restaurant. His nephew, Brie Parmesian, had gone missing a few days before. Wanting to find his wayward nephew, his initial offer was doubled due to the wiles of Miss Fay, along with pre-paid tickets to Endkeep Station.
Boarding the train, our Mouse adventurers enjoyed the sites as the train rushed to Endkeep Station. While dining on some fine biscuits and tea, an approaching steam car gave chase to the train. The Circada Gang was attacking the box cars, full of equipment and goods for the station! Three of the Locusts managed to jump to the train, the other not quite making it. Hearing shots from the caboose, our adventurers rush through the first box car. Our initial fight was rewound after reading the rules: turns out that Fay, with only a single die to roll for combat due to her physical stat being one (the default) and no fighting skills, would need an 8 to hit the Locust. While 6s are exploding in this game, we decided she could use her espionage skills to sneak up, and I would allow for 2 dice due to the sneak attack. With that, she actually did roll an exploding 6, so damage was significant. Normally damage is just 1 point each time, but I decided with that much overkill I'd allow a clean headshot and she killed the Locust. The other Locust, realizing what was going on, was getting ready to attack when Bucky attacked with his sword. Having a 2 physical stat he got to roll 2 dice, and adding 1 for his fight skill, he managed to hit the Locust. The Locust first shot went wild. A short fight ends up with the Locust knocked out, and the caboose engineer, having taken care of the remaining Locust, rushes in to find our heroes and the unconscious Locust. Miss Fay, charming as always, manages to get a possible dinner date with Michael Furryhanunches, the train engineer, at the Grand Gouda Cheese House when they get to Endkeep.
Once at Endkeep Station, the last on this line, they find the Eastside Hostel. The genial hostess, a Rat named Bernice Longtail, helped them check in, and allowed them to search Brie's room. There they found a map case with a map. The proverbial X marks the spot indicated a spot 1.2 miles distant, in the mountains. After a dinner with Mr. Furryhaunches where Miss Fay managed to get some general information, they turned in to sleep. Next morning, knowing that a trip of that distance requires transportation (they are mice!) they find there is Tori Greyfur's Birds, and Pinky Tail's Ornithopters. They chose the ornithopter, and Pinky, a one-eyed rat with a good part of his tail missing, and a penchant for chewing tobacco, flew them to the site.
A quick hike up the mountain and they find the perfectly circular access to inside the mountain, Cautiously climbing through, they find and bypass a strange red light beam stretching across the tunnel. Coming to a Y, they notice the initials BP on the left fork. Following that, the see light at the end of the tunnel, but also the sound of scurrying feet. Peering out of the tunnel, they see a huge room, and a bunch of cockroaches being chased by a mechanical spider! Up on a table, nearly 5 feet high, they see a cage with a Mouse in it. Bucky, seeing the mechanical spider is occupied with the cockroaches, rushes over and with a deft swing, gets his grappling hook in the bars, leaving the rope for Miss Meadowheart to clamber up. Doing so, she quickly springs the lock with her lockpick set as Bucky goes back to the access tunnel, which is too small for the mechanical monster. Fay and Brie make their acquaintance as the spider, seeing Bucky, rushes over to the hole in the wall. Fending off the probing arms, Fay and Brie decide to attract the spider's attention. Pushing a large box off the table, with papers fluttering all over, the spider comes to the base of the table to investigate. Dropping a bottle of acid on the spider, it spins out of control as sparks then a puff of smoke signal its demise. Hearing a siren, Miss Meadowheart and Brie clamor back down the rope, and get Bucky's grappling hook. Brie manages to grab one of the papers, trying to fold it as the room starts to rain and the sound of more mechanical spiders is heard!
Making it to the tunnel, they rush down to the exit, water starting to flow into the pipe. They miss seeing the red light, and hear a smaller spider rushing down the tunnel after them! Fleeing this new monster, they come into the fresh mountain air. Bucky fires a flare pistol, waking up Pinky. Seeing them rush out of the mountain, he quickly gets the ornithopter started up as Bucky, Miss Meadowheart and Brie jump into the back of the 'thopter and take off, leaving the spider and a running waterfall behind.
We ended up recreating the Indiana Jones first movie a bit there at the end. It went well enough considering I made up the adventure on the fly based on some of the material from that Kickstarter. It also opens it up for another round: we now have a Forerunner "dungeon" we could explore. I've created a small, western-style town at the end of a line of the Royal Rails, complete with a hostel, restaurant and a few businesses. Brie made off with some paper that may have some high-tech applications. I may even try to expand out the town using the Spectacular Settlements book: it could be transferred to my Fantasy Trip universe or even a low-tech Traveller world. Sort of like the old Thieves Guild boxed supplement that came out decades ago and worked the rules for a variety of RPGs, including Traveller. I was big into the Thieves World shared universe a bit, and I think it flavors my game thoughts now.
Mechanics-wise, I liked the game. You have the number of dice to roll based on the abilities characteristic, and modified by skills. So for our Mr Parmesian, any test that uses intelligence he would roll 2 dice, and then add in any appropriate skill as a DM. Investigation, for instance, he would roll 2d6 + 1. And with the exploding 6, there can be more cinematic results. I would like to have them better link which skill falls under which ability but it is pretty simple to decide. And when we did our initial combat, it turns out that Locusts have an armor value of 8, meaning you need to roll an 8 or higher to hit them. Our Miss Fay had no fight skill, and her physique is 1, meaning she would only roll 1 d6 to see if she hit. She would have to roll a 6 then at least a 2. So that's why we did our rewind to give her a slight 1 time advantage sneak attack. In the future I am not sure I'll keep that in play, but probably will just to give her at least 1 shot that has a chance to hit.
Another interesting game mechanic is the player's goal for the session. Roll 2d6 and there is a goal and what it means. If they meet that goal, they get an advancement point. Both Bucky & Fay managed their specific goals, and I gave an additional AP for good role playing. This allows them to level up a bit, either adding new skill pips, or for 2 AP, bumping up an ability. There is not really a lot of room for advancement, but this is supposed to be a sort of one shot game. I think we may revisit the Brass Rings in the future as I think we all had a good time.
The only thing I had a hard time keeping up with is scale: mice are small! That's why that 1.2 mile hike would have taken them all day and they took an ornithopter (at the sort of request from the players: they mentioned it in passing so I added it in).
And finally, some metagaming. The tunnel into the Forerunner "dungeon" is a drainage pipe. The red light is a sensor for the cleaning bots to check for debris or vermin. The smaller pipe spiders would be a bit less tough than the bigger ones. Destroying the mechanical spider caused the fire suppression system to kick on, hence the rain in the room and the need for the drainage system our valiant Mice used.
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