Campbell
Relaxed Intensity
Last week I was in a bit of a quandary as a GM. We had been playing Lancer for five sessions and really like the characters and setting, but were not crazy about the rules. I already talked to the other players and got the go ahead to transition are game over to Beam Saber. Unfortunately there was a good deal of stuff that we needed to do before we could really transition fully over to Beam Saber. The main characters were still in the middle of retrieving/rescuing some sentient alien mech babies. What we ended up doing was basically playing with no system at all for a full four hour session.
Basically I framed scenes, players responded, and we made up systems to cover stuff as we went. Mostly we used Blades in the Dark style dice pools when necessary (without position and effect) so we had something fairly transparent to decide conflicts. The focus of the session was more on long term consequences. Even though there were a couple fights the physical safety of the main characters was not really at stake (although most of that was fictional positioning).
After playing Lancer for 5 sessions it was amazing how frenetic the action sequences were. I am still a little reeling from exactly how much happened. I used a lot of experimental jump cuts and had parallel narratives going on through most of the session as one of the main characters negotiated the release of his parents from an alien prison ship (a pleasant surprise) while the others were boarding another ship where they confronted a group of humanity first terrorists who had recently split off from a separatist group.
The players of the two characters in the boarding party opted to do a ship to ship boarding which made their presence obvious. We did a makeshift engagement roll to determine the initial situation. They ended up in a tenuous position where the arrived to see terrorists (Transcendence) fighting separatists (Crimson Lotus). One of the main characters comes from a famous mercenary clan and was able to convince the separatists that they were on the same side (Rolled 2 6's on 3 dice so a critical). With their combined forces (the main characters had some allies with them) they were able to force their way to the main deck. I had ruled that the success meant they were able to fight well together and build comradery. Their presence shifted things in the favor of the separatists so there was no need to dwell on the combat.
On the main deck they confronted Deras Vertu, a known terrorist and brother to one of their close allies and classmates from the Academy, Kas Vertu (who was there with them). They ended up deciding to try to take Derras alive, even stopping an ally from shooting him in the head. There were some pretty tense moments here as Deras and Kas actually got to see each for the first time in a long time. One of the main characters (Kira) was able to coach Kas out of her plans to "punish" Deras. The main characters were able to convince Deras to stand down and give up the wraiths. Meanwhile their ship was gone.
While the boarding party was taking place Fulgen Vangelos (whose mech/wraith was out of commission do a tense firefight with some of their new allies before they were allies) was asked to respond to a distress signal from a sentient alien prison ship. This sequence happened in a series of jump cuts interspersed with the boarding party's efforts. Basically Fulgen was able to successfully trick the prison vessel into believing he was the original Ascendent Lord instead of one of many clones and use that to trick it into letting him "transfer" out prisoners, escaping with some separatists as well as his "parents" (who are the rogue scientists who made him). I had no idea how this was going to go. I was fully prepared for things to go the other way which would have resulted in them still being imprisoned after we jumped forward in time. This player is a really talented at fictional positioning and had a couple of really good rolls. Still was saddled with a group of seperatists.
After this the main characters were able to link the boarding ship and Ascends From Sky to Sky, an allied sentient ship together. They opted to go along to the Crimson Lotus summit although there was discussion of sending Deras Vertu away. They could have escaped if they wanted to, but Fulgen did not want to leave his parents behind who are part of Crimson Lotus. Kira was able to calm down one of the Crimson Lotus leaders who was furious about some internal beefs. She also convinced their Unbound (sentient independent mechs) allies that the wraiths should be given a choice as to which side they join (rolling 6 6 6 on 3 dice). "Choice? Choice!" became a refrain. This made Kira's player very happy.
At the summit we basically had a bunch of individual conversations. The Unbound gained 6 wraiths while Crimson Lotus gained 6 as they were able to choose for themselves. In the wake of a "massacre" at their academy Jasven Vertu implored Crimson Lotus to return "their children". Basically I wanted to give the players a choice to go back if they wanted to. They also had a choice to join Transcendence, the human first group. There was also a splintering within Crimson Lotus so they had their choice of sub-factions. When all was said and done they opted to join the more anarchist branch of Crimson Lotus instead of the part wanting to restore autocratic rule. There was also a bunch more personal story stuff.
Basically I framed scenes, players responded, and we made up systems to cover stuff as we went. Mostly we used Blades in the Dark style dice pools when necessary (without position and effect) so we had something fairly transparent to decide conflicts. The focus of the session was more on long term consequences. Even though there were a couple fights the physical safety of the main characters was not really at stake (although most of that was fictional positioning).
After playing Lancer for 5 sessions it was amazing how frenetic the action sequences were. I am still a little reeling from exactly how much happened. I used a lot of experimental jump cuts and had parallel narratives going on through most of the session as one of the main characters negotiated the release of his parents from an alien prison ship (a pleasant surprise) while the others were boarding another ship where they confronted a group of humanity first terrorists who had recently split off from a separatist group.
The players of the two characters in the boarding party opted to do a ship to ship boarding which made their presence obvious. We did a makeshift engagement roll to determine the initial situation. They ended up in a tenuous position where the arrived to see terrorists (Transcendence) fighting separatists (Crimson Lotus). One of the main characters comes from a famous mercenary clan and was able to convince the separatists that they were on the same side (Rolled 2 6's on 3 dice so a critical). With their combined forces (the main characters had some allies with them) they were able to force their way to the main deck. I had ruled that the success meant they were able to fight well together and build comradery. Their presence shifted things in the favor of the separatists so there was no need to dwell on the combat.
On the main deck they confronted Deras Vertu, a known terrorist and brother to one of their close allies and classmates from the Academy, Kas Vertu (who was there with them). They ended up deciding to try to take Derras alive, even stopping an ally from shooting him in the head. There were some pretty tense moments here as Deras and Kas actually got to see each for the first time in a long time. One of the main characters (Kira) was able to coach Kas out of her plans to "punish" Deras. The main characters were able to convince Deras to stand down and give up the wraiths. Meanwhile their ship was gone.
While the boarding party was taking place Fulgen Vangelos (whose mech/wraith was out of commission do a tense firefight with some of their new allies before they were allies) was asked to respond to a distress signal from a sentient alien prison ship. This sequence happened in a series of jump cuts interspersed with the boarding party's efforts. Basically Fulgen was able to successfully trick the prison vessel into believing he was the original Ascendent Lord instead of one of many clones and use that to trick it into letting him "transfer" out prisoners, escaping with some separatists as well as his "parents" (who are the rogue scientists who made him). I had no idea how this was going to go. I was fully prepared for things to go the other way which would have resulted in them still being imprisoned after we jumped forward in time. This player is a really talented at fictional positioning and had a couple of really good rolls. Still was saddled with a group of seperatists.
After this the main characters were able to link the boarding ship and Ascends From Sky to Sky, an allied sentient ship together. They opted to go along to the Crimson Lotus summit although there was discussion of sending Deras Vertu away. They could have escaped if they wanted to, but Fulgen did not want to leave his parents behind who are part of Crimson Lotus. Kira was able to calm down one of the Crimson Lotus leaders who was furious about some internal beefs. She also convinced their Unbound (sentient independent mechs) allies that the wraiths should be given a choice as to which side they join (rolling 6 6 6 on 3 dice). "Choice? Choice!" became a refrain. This made Kira's player very happy.
At the summit we basically had a bunch of individual conversations. The Unbound gained 6 wraiths while Crimson Lotus gained 6 as they were able to choose for themselves. In the wake of a "massacre" at their academy Jasven Vertu implored Crimson Lotus to return "their children". Basically I wanted to give the players a choice to go back if they wanted to. They also had a choice to join Transcendence, the human first group. There was also a splintering within Crimson Lotus so they had their choice of sub-factions. When all was said and done they opted to join the more anarchist branch of Crimson Lotus instead of the part wanting to restore autocratic rule. There was also a bunch more personal story stuff.