18.1.18 XI. Aramanx 2 (chapter: Wolf at the Door continued)

revisit weapons grab to be certain of what everyone has, drag Bannerji off on litter, pow-wow about which way to go but take Bannerji up on offer of ship off world, encounter soldiers at bridge in SE corner of map as they want to cross river and head north to mining camp, fight(s) with soldiers, now two of them being held at gunpoint, rest dithering

We met for the 11^th installment of The Traveller Adventure last night. A full house for once with all six players and myself. In the Duke of Buckingham as usual, down in Old Portsmouth.

(You’ll probably need a copy of the chapter Wolf at the Door to hand to follow the plot, but not the gaming stuff).

tl;dr

- equipment selection with real time limits on how long could be spent seemed to go very well

- Wolf at the Door chapter of TTA still fairly complex to get one’s head around and clearly shows its authors’ roots in wargaming with more info on the Divisions and Brigades etc of the various nations on the balkanized world of Aramanx than you can shake a stick at

- combat, as ever, really changes the pace of an evening and although exciting in its way, radically reduces the amount of material it’s possible to get through.

- can our heroes get themselves out of this mess?

Dramatis personae:

(see Two Days on Carsten for more details on this motley crew)

Fred the gunbunny (only he and Gvoudzon have any formal military experience)

Loyd the Captain

Gvoudzon the vargr (merc experience but mostly as an emissary)

Tess the engineer (and only one with no weapon skill at all)

Adma the medic

Lily an archaeologist they picked up on Pysadi who’s worked passage for 3 Jumps and now been hired to help the captain with admin and brokering (interestingly, her player is the only one with much in the way of leadership drive but she’s a bit unsure that it would be her character to keep taking charge). (We really don’t have any alpha males round the table as players or characters!) (or ref for that matter).

Kunal the pilot (NPC) and a bit blandly neutral mostly as I try not to egg them into anything via her

Egon the navigator who is a bit out of it mentally for reasons that might be apparent to anyone who knows TTA (NPC)

Kfouzorr a vargr friend of Gvoudzon’s they picked up at the mansion (NPC)

Bannerji on a stretcher (NPC) the far trader captain they rescued from the mansion

While we waited for everyone to gather, Jane (Fred) had bought along the Loyd’s Ladies sheet she and I had come up with after the last session. This is a series of tables to help the imagination when our Captain is looking for yet another woman to chat up. We had great fun rolling on all of the tables for everyone’s dream partner (desperate d-cup hermit anyone?). Yes, with the addition of a chest size table to swap for bust size (accurately modelled by Jane she assured me), it works for either gender. We debated the merits of an eye colour table and its role playing (non)utility.

We ordered food and while waiting for that sorted out some details from the end of last session. Leaving the Governor’s Mansion (a temporary brigade hq of some Senled forces) which was coming under attack from some vargr mercenaries – Gvoudzon’s old gang. They’d all had five minutes to grab weapons/gear and had randomly rolled for a slip of paper I’d given them from the 6 options given in the chapter. Unfortunately, I’d not made a note of who got what so we redid that and also confirmed what weapons and armour they’d picked up. This actually took a little longer than I had imagined with 6 different people all spending a bit too long (in real time) working out what was what and what they wanted. I should perhaps have been stricter on time but the players were enjoying it and the food hadn’t arrived.

The one gear grab we did recall was Lily, our archaeologist, as she’d rolled a 6 and got the miscellaneous gear option. I remembered this because as the previous session ended at that point, she’d asked for a complete list of options for next time. (two thirds of my players have never role played before, much less have any familiarity with Traveller equipment books). So in preparation I went through the Central Supply Catalogue and made a note of all the TL6 or less equipment I thought might reasonably be in an army command headquarter’s “store” (i.e. several rooms in the mansion) and then had the idea of turning it into a stock taking checklist on a clipboard that Lily could stumble across as she entered her room. (The PCs had all split up for 5 minutes to maximise their gear grab – though that did mean they didn’t know what others were picking up which made for some interesting duplication).

I managed to get my stock taking checklist onto one sheet of paper and included ‘serial numbers’ which told me chapter and section of the CSC along with Tech Level and kilogram weight. (This had the interesting effect of making it look like I knew the TLs and weights of all this gear by heart!) I offered a small prize for any player who could decipher the serial number, but there wasn’t really time for that. I also had a couple of items crossed out as though they’d been used up by the mercs with the idea of given the PCs a clue about what they might face – although I’m not sure anyone picked up on this. However, there was enough on the list to make it an interesting challenge for Lily’s player to be given the list, given her 5 minutes as real time, and decide what to try to carry out not knowing what all the other PCs had grabbed. The list included ‘distractions’ such as prosthetic limbs and the miniatures wargame set (yes, it’s in CSC for MgT2!!). Oddly enough, because Bannerji had broken his leg, Lily grabbed a false leg and bone saw… :-) When she waved the latter in Bannerji’s direction he paled.

[If anyone would like a copy of this list, email me offlist]

We did have a slight pause on the timer to discuss what weight she could move. I’d carefully looked up the encumbrance rules the day before knowing this would come up, so I knew it was STR+END = kilos (unencumbered), that number x 2 for what you can carry for STR+END minutes, and that number x 3 for what you can carry for STR+END rounds. However, the first question that got asked was “what about a sled and dragging?” I’d not thought of that (shame on me), but I knew there was no Mongoose Traveller rule for that so accepted the experienced role players’ claim that [Pathfinder?] allowed something like 5x STR+END. It seemed reasonable and in fact Lily didn’t get to that quantity of gear in any case.

So food came – far too large portions as always, but very good nosh for a pub – we ate and then we were onto the main session picking up from the PCs temporary stopping point a mile or so from the Mansion to take stock of what they’re carrying, including Bannerji on a stretcher, and decide on their next course of action. In a desperate attempt to save something of my voice, I got Gvoudzon’s player to report on what his mate Kfouzorr’s story was. Kfouzorr initially tells them some stuff in the Mansion and now gives them a bit more detail which essentially amounts to ‘yes, they’re after us and their forces are north and west so we might not want to go that way’. Then Adma the medic tended to Bannerji and his broken leg and they began to get his story – which is a major bit of plot explanation and advancement. I actually managed to do this in character for once rather than report it but still read too much from the book rather than knowing it off by heart. However, some of the players pieced together their rescue of the prospector several sessions ago with Bannerji’s attack on him and so on, so that was gratifying.

Although I was prepared for them to choose something else – just selling Bannerji to the nearest troops was suggested momentarily – the decision was made, with no further prodding from me, to take up Bannerji’s offer of his ship off world if they’d take him with them. I had basically expected the rest of the evening to take us to the mining camp up in the hills OR for them to take some kind of short cut (selling him to the Lanax side, maybe?) and then back to the March Harrier and onwards.

In fact, neither of those happened as we got into the hiking – with gear – eastwards to a bridge with the aim of then moving northwards to the woods and hills and on to the Mining Camp in Renitza. (You’ll probably need to look at a map for this to make sense. There’s a good one in Aramis: The Traveller Adventure for MgT1 and a poor one in TTA (classic Traveller) in one of the few cases where I prefer the new handouts over the old.)

I managed to both remember to do the animal encounters but also to come up with some nice examples which I always worry about because the tables are so unhelpful in terms of actual description and so on. We had some armadillo like critters scurrying around, an annoying buzzing insect in the night that kept one PC awake, and a large killer feline in the middle of the road at one point. (Which they despatched quite quickly but never connected the shots being fired with the pass of one of the merc helicopters a little while after.)

But I (foolishly??? I don’t know), decreed that at the bridge they were approaching cautiously, there were four soldiers. The rest of the evening – perhaps half the 3 or 3.5 hours we spent – was then wrapped up with events that probably only took a few minutes.

Essentially our gun bunny, Fred, played by Jane our mild mannered cataloguer, decided to use his recon and stealth skill to get closer and see what was what at the bridge. (They didn’t yet know there was anyone there). Unfortunately this was the double 1 moment of the evening and I decided that his binoculars had caught the rising sun and reflected it straight at the soldiers who were immediately alerted to his presence. Or at least the presence of someone/something. Two of them immediately raise weapons and advance to investigate. Fred takes a couple of shots at them, misses, and takes off for the nearby woods with incoming fire whizzing past him, thudding into nearby trees, and finally hitting him in the shoulder. (For once I thought I managed the dramatic tension of this quite nicely if I say so myself.) Fortunately he has some good cloth armour and despite a slight injury he could press on in his dash for better cover and attempt to lead the soldiers away from the rest of the PCs who were not that far away but wondering what on Aramanx was happening. They’d all made quite clear they’d turned their comms off as they departed the Mansion so they couldn’t be tracked and no one had thought to arrange a signal for turning them on. Though Fred eventually twigged and called in a report. He also notes that the enemy seem to be firing single shots rather than using burst mode. (I thought this might encourage the PCs to think the soldiers were using rifles rather than heavier weapons and that they’d be less of a challenge if they decided to attack. I’m not certain that anyone actually realized the point of that. It might have been an iffy supposition anyway as autorifles can fire in single shot mode.) His report for the record, contained quite a lot of foul language as he realized how badly he’d fouled up and endangered everyone. We’re so mild mannered as a group however, the foul language was merely reported…

While the rest of the gang decided what to do, Fred lead the soldiers into the woods with the plan of doubling back and attacking them from the side. This was the double 6 moment of the evening (as well as +3 skill) so I allowed him some balance to the universe as he snuck up on one of the soldiers before they’d had time to think again about the wisdom of chasing him into the woods. Fred cut his throat, holding the poor guy’s body against him as the other reacted and shot at him. Fortunately the soldier missed and Fred could take another shot which took him out. Again, quite an exciting moment. [Any tactical deficiencies of the local soldiers are to be blamed entirely on the ref.]

Meanwhile, back with the rest of them, they’ve got a bit gung-ho as Fred reports that he’s despatched two of the soldiers. They can see that one of the pair remaining at the bridge is on a comm unit so they simply decide to CHARGE! (Well, all but the rather risk averse engineer, Tess, who decided to look after Bannerji). I thought about this and decided I’d just let the dice fall where they may, had them roll for initiative order and got on with it. The Captain with his not but two SMGs (he’d *tried* giving one to someone else!) and Gvoudzon with ammo bandoliers galore with everyone else close behind were quite a sight racing towards the bridge and two poor Renitzan soldiers who were probably wishing they’d stayed in bed that morning…

After some good shots from the pair of soldiers who went after Fred, these two at the bridge were woeful and were essentially mown down by the PCs rampaging towards them. Both down and unconscious, one bleeding and the other bleeding very badly. Perhaps the best role playing of the evening came now with Lily – who for an archaeologist suddenly turned very bloodthirsty – was demanding they just kill the two and Adma the medic going into automatic mode and doing everything he could to keep them alive. He stabilised one and was struggling with the other while Lily ranted about just killing them and not wasting bandages and medical kit, not to mention time.

The whop whop whop of a couple of helicopters gets them moving. Lily has decided she’s going to blow the bridge (I’m still not quite sure why, particularly as they hadn’t even crossed it yet!) (and not to mention, that I – as Kunal the NPC – was querying why the obsession with this bridge in the first place as there’s one further north, deep in the forest, that might be much less accessible/used/guarded). Lily is setting some of the plastic explosive she’s brought, Adma is doing his best to save the close to death soldier with the help of the Kunal the pilot (an NPC) and the rest race back to where they’ve dumped their gear and the cover of the trees.

There was then a LOT of discussion about what should happen next and for once no consensus and complete indecision. (No leaders remember, either as PCs or players. Although Fred the gunbunny technically has the skill.) The evening was getting on and I knew we had to wrap it up but even so I should probably have prompted an actual decision sooner. It wasn’t helped by a realization that my description of a ‘small’ wooden bridge, fairly newly built (and thus not on the map) had not come across to the PCs who seemed to be imagining something 100s of metres long or more, rather than the much smaller thing in my head. I can only blame myself for not being much clearer. Although to be fair, neither did anyone ask for further detail. Nor, curiously, did they ask anything about *which* soldiers this lot were. (I’d decided Renitzan but failed to give a hint by describing any uniform or anything.) (Then again, Fred had just failed his reconnaissance rather spectacularly so that wouldn’t be the first thing on his mind.)

In an effort to have some hard numbers I decreed the river was 8m wide (I knew they had some 10m rope), 2m deep and if you tried swimming it the current would probably take you about 10m downstream before you got across. This was all just plucked from my head and I have no idea if this was reasonable. (For example, would this be enough for the dam further up river which had been a point of discussion about the attack of the mercenaries). There is NOTHING in the text to help with any of this which is perhaps a bit frustrating. We decided to blame the inadequate map. :-)

But to chivvy things along and provide something of a climax to end on, I had the two helicopters arrive. One is circling around while the other has landed between the bridge and Adma, Kunal and two downed soldiers about 10m from the bridge. Four armed (rifles) soldiers have jumped out and are now in the faces of Adma and Kunal shouting in a language they don’t understand. They’ve ordered them away from their compatriots on the ground but their medic has taken over and looked at Adma with some admiration over the job he’s clearly been doing of keeping the wounded alive. Having said, that, the most seriously wounded soldier has just lost his fight for life. The other chopper continues to circle.

(Oh, and the distances above are significant. The blast radius for damage of the plastic explosives is 9m. Adma, Kunal and the downed soldiers are just outside it. Two new soldiers are right on the edge of it, the helicopter, the pilot and other two new soldiers are right in it. Lily is of course also currently within the 9m.)

So there we left it, and I’m not sure I haven’t painted myself – or the PCs more accurately – into a corner. Lily’s hiding under the bridge. Adma and Kunal seem unlikely to get away without being captured (and are perhaps fortunate they haven’t been shot out of hand), and all the rest, are still out of sight in the woods quarter of a mile away. I’m not at all sure what happens next.

Options seem to be:

- let the PCs mount an immediate attack to try to save Adma and Kunal. I can’t see this going well. Against any trained forces I would have thought the lack of experience of almost all the PCs was going to tell, not to mention their poorish skills.

- suggest that Lily blows the bridge (perhaps after swimming away underwater) to take out the helicopter, pilot, 2 soldiers and – maybe – the two soldiers at the edge of the blast radius (but that still leaves the circling chopper to then possibly attack Kunal and Adma in panic or self-defence or some such). It probably wouldn’t need the suggestion, she was close to doing this anyway.

- let Adma and Kunal be captured and have the others stage a rescue (not sure where from – there’s nothing nearby on the map). This is actually suggested as a possibility in the text but there’s no support for how/where that might work out

- have a couple of Senled choppers – or vargr mercenaries – arrive to see what’s going on, take on the Renitzan forces and allow Adma and Kunal to escape in the chaos, along with the others

- something else I’ve not thought of

Decisions… or maybe a die roll. One more option and I’ve got the traditional 6!