NEW & OLD Playtest Campaign: Dirty Deeds in Space

[Pixel]

I'm playing a smallfolk, so I have a pretty high natural bonus, which I combine with a energy shield and a unique quality synthetic weave bringing me to an amazing 30/34 defense (depending on whether or not the shield is active), and a SOAK of 12. I have 19 HP, but only due to a really lucky health roll (4 END, 3 WIL), and my mental defense is at the sad state of 16.

Overview:
[sblock]
Defense: 30/34

AGI: 7 (3d6)
Acrobatics: 3 (2d6)
Unique Armor: 5d6
Energy Shield: Flat 4
Smallfolk: Flat 5

Total Dicepool: 10d6
Total Flat Bonus: 9

Dicepool Limit: 7d6

Total Defense: 30 - 34 w/ shield (Ranged and melee defense is the same, with the use of AGI)


Mental Defense: 16

INT: 9 (3d6)
Smallfolk: Flat 5

Total Mental Defense: 16


SOAK: 12

Unique Quality Synthetic Weave: 12 - Vulnerable vs Impact

UQSW Upgrades:

Silent: +5 SOAK vs Sonic, +1d6 AGI to stealth
Thermal: +5 SOAK vs Cold
Heat Resistant: +5 SOAK vs Heat
Kinetic: No fall dmg

Total Value (Just for fun ): 36050 CR

[/sblock]

I made that giant number crunch to show why my character is currently among the "crazy defense/soak" category, and to be able to talk about his strengths and weaknesses.
As you can see, our current dicepool limit is at 7d6, as all of our party has reached the 2nd added career grade, so the potential threats are also way up there, though it's difficult to say weather we're facing strong enemies because of the raised stakes, or because it's necessary to challenge some members of our group.

I think that Wilfred and Mozart are the most crazy on the defense/soak

During our timeskip I was allowed to use my Con Artist ability to earn CHA check x 10 once per day, but instead of doing the 8 years x 365 days, we took 6 x 365, to adjust for days where I wouldn't be able to spend the time, or be in a place it was possible. As for the check itself we used 3 as an average instead of rolling a few thousand times. The result was ofcourse a giant sum of money. We took that and halved it on account of living costs, maintenance of the ship and my character being a spendthrift. The rest was divided out into the party as a kind of payment for "their help in minor sidejobs", but still keeping a larger part of it himself. I think the group got about 20k each leaving Wilfred with about 50k or so. Then there also was some leftovers from previous jobs. This accounts for our crazy gear.

As for the defense/soak balance I have a few points to make.

First of: I've focused heavily on giving him a high high defense to make up for his otherwise social heavy abilities.
Second: My mental defense is only 16 (and with a lot of enemies having atk dicepools of 5-7d6 that's quite low).
Third: 12 SOAK is a lot, but far from untouchable.
And fourth: Impact/blunt is a pretty common damage type, so it's a huge vulnerability.

That said I think that the smallfolk +5 bonus to both mental defense and defense is a little much, and a little boring. I'd rather see them being able to do something fun with either CHA or LUC. Like if they instead of having one use of luck per day, had one combat and non-combat use per day due to their lucky nature.

I hope this wasn't too much rambling, and that it made sense I have a hard time telling weather or not my character is OP, but it seems to have some pretty significant weaknesses to account for some of it's strength.

 

[Morrus]

Ah, the issue reveals itself! You're using unique quality equipment? That's pretty much the artefact level stuff. Unique stuff is... well, unique.

In my current document, you can't actually buy unique stuff. It can be the subject of quests, etc., but it isn't available in shops!

That con artist earning thing was very much intended as an in-game thing to get a little spare cash in a pinch, not a downtime thing to gain tons of free money In multi-year time skips. Looks like that needs clarifying/tweaking. It's definitely not supposed to get you access to crazy gear! Using it like that makes it the most powerful exploit on the game by sone orders of magnitude!

That said, I think the DEF bonus from quality armour is going away. It doesn't make much sense.

Thanks for the info - that was really useful! It highlighted exactly what needed changing and how. You just gained a grade in playtesting!

 

[Pixel]

Thanks for the info - that was really useful! It highlighted exactly what needed changing and how. You just gained a grade in playtesting!

Thanks! I'm glad that it's useful, I love the mechanics of the system so being able to give useful feedback is really cool

EDIT: Also keep in mind that it was the cheapest armor I bought a unique version of

 

[TheHolyMage]

Hey Morrus, I am playing Amanda (And previously Elieth), and have some feedback, I want you to hear about, specifically Laser Weapon, and Star Knights
Just a note, this is before any combat has been done, this was just problems, I saw while I was creating the character.

The first thing I would like to point out, is mostly range laser weapons, get double cost, for no real benefit except, for most that has to special rule beam, and of course to change damage type, from Ballistic to Heat, So no real problem.

But it’s look weird a melee weapons, for that cost of not Laser to laser 20 to 100 times more expensive, a most of them are in such a low price, that I don’t mind, except for the laser sword.
I don’t see, any reason why anyone, besides star knight, would have a laser sword, it’s more expensive, and does nothing’s for its cost, even for a star knight.

Personally I see two ways you can fix this; one is changing some of the exploits, for the star knight to do more crazy stuff, with the sword, or you reducing costs off the weapon.

One of the things, you can do with it, is basically to make, missile deflection exploits, make you able to reflect an attack against you, if they are Laser or beam specific, (Note. Maybe this is a little bit too much, since it sounds like you’re going to change a bit in the defense) Or an exploit that allows you to, create laser sword by yourself, with a reduced cost.
The reduce costs is basically for make it able to be upgraded.

Thanks you for reading through our crazy adventure and i think your game has a big potential to be great

 

[Morrus]

Hey Morrus, I am playing Amanda (And previously Elieth), and have some feedback, I want you to hear about, specifically Laser Weapon, and Star Knights
Just a note, this is before any combat has been done, this was just problems, I saw while I was creating the character.

The first thing I would like to point out, is mostly range laser weapons, get double cost, for no real benefit except, for most that has to special rule beam, and of course to change damage type, from Ballistic to Heat, So no real problem.

But it’s look weird a melee weapons, for that cost of not Laser to laser 20 to 100 times more expensive, a most of them are in such a low price, that I don’t mind, except for the laser sword.
I don’t see, any reason why anyone, besides star knight, would have a laser sword, it’s more expensive, and does nothing’s for its cost, even for a star knight.

Personally I see two ways you can fix this; one is changing some of the exploits, for the star knight to do more crazy stuff, with the sword, or you reducing costs off the weapon.

One of the things, you can do with it, is basically to make, missile deflection exploits, make you able to reflect an attack against you, if they are Laser or beam specific, (Note. Maybe this is a little bit too much, since it sounds like you’re going to change a bit in the defense) Or an exploit that allows you to, create laser sword by yourself, with a reduced cost.
The reduce costs is basically for make it able to be upgraded.

Thanks you for reading through our crazy adventure and i think your game has a big potential to be great

Well, a laser sword is expensive because it's rare. Or it's rare because it's expensive. But your GM is welcome to make it a cheap, common weapon in your setting!

 

[RisTigger]

Episode 10: Solid Vera


So this session started off with everyone knowing exactly what they wanted to do. The group has a plan to continue their infiltration of Vern Co. Vera is going to stealth inside the building using an invisibility spell prepared by Sa'La. She will be both invisible and can't be heard by people. It's the perfect plan. Before she leaves, Wilfred also gives her a laser knife.

The first step is actually getting inside. She decides to use an entrance where most of the engineers are going into. Inside is a smaller hanger filled with basic transports being fixed up by the engineers. She then finds the fire escape plan. There’s a large staircase leading all through the building in case of an emergency. Though she can just take the stairs, she notices a camera watching the door. The elevator is the best option.

She has to wait for someone to come down, but someone eventually does use the elevator. The problem, once she’s inside she’s confronted with another problem. There’s a camera in the elevator. She can’t push the button without being seen. Luckily, the person comes back into the elevator and she can use his body to push a button without being seen.

The elevator goes to the top floor where there should be the secret hanger. She reaches the top but finds only a hallway filled with offices. Finding nothing interesting, she decides to go to the fire stairs. She exits to the stairs and finds a heavy metal door with a huge lock on it. It’s odd because it’s a metal lock instead of a mechanical one. Vera wants to blast it off but that would create too much attention. Using Wilfred’s knife, she cuts the lock off and enters.

She goes up another staircase to a large hanger bay. There are only a few engineers running around. She decides to go higher. She comes up to a door leading to a very nice waiting room. There’s only a large red draconian standing inside the room. The end of the stairs leads to what appears to be a long hallway.

Vera decides to stealth into the hangar bay. She explores the large hanger full of the most expensive ships she has ever seen. Down at the very end she finds an old friend. The Crimson Star. It’s a little different, with all new engines and a paint job. Vera sneaks into the ship and manages to locate the psychic relic.

She prepares to exit the ship when she sees a large red draconian waiting for her at the entrance. The dragon smirks and says she knows one of them is in there. They may be invisible but she knows someone is there and she knows they’re from THAT crew.

Vera manages to get away by tossing her sword into the ship, tricking the dragon into thinking she ran to hide in the ship. While the dragon is distracted Vera makes a run for it. There’s a problem though. Once she gets to the door she notices someone in the reflection in the glass. Herself. The spell has been broken!

As quick as she can, she runs down the stairs and through the door. Except someone has caught on and is following her. Without warning, the dragon jumps down the flight of stairs to the bottom, crashing right in front of Vera. Without much choice, Vera jumps off of the dragon, against a wall, and backflips over her pursuer.

Vera decides to just run down the fire escape to the bottom. As she’s running she feels a brush of familiar energy behind her. She manages to escape, and the wall behind her suddenly explodes. Vera just runs as fast as she can! With some quick thinking, Vera tests her luck and jumps down a few flights of stairs, putting a lot of distance between her and the dragon.

Vera is celebrating, but suddenly most of the stairs are blown away by the dragon. Things are looking very dire for Vera, so she decides to just climb down from floor to floor. The dragon is much quicker however. Vera, left with little options, jumps out the window onto a window washers ledge. However, she slips and is hanging by the skin of her teeth. She’s struggling to save herself when the dragon suddenly jumps down onto the ledge and causes it to start crashing towards the ground.

The dragon says she can save them if Vera gives up the relic. Vera declines, saying how she can trust the dragon. The dragon lifts Vera onto the ledge and says to give up the relic or she dies.

Sa’La tries to save Vera but the dragon blasts Sa’La out of the air. Vera gives up and gives her the relic.

The ledge crashes to the ground but Vera and the dragon are safe thanks to a psychic barrier.

Amanda rushes to the scene, having already called in the Star Marines to arrest the dragon. She asks the dragon who she is. She says her name is

Geist
Psychic Draconian
She’s a mysterious member of Vern Co. and a psychic master.

The Star Marines show up by the quickly arrest Vera and Amanda is also taken into custody. Sa’La tries to help, but the wizard that has been blocking her magic this entire time shows up.

???
Master Magician
A strange blue draconian and a master of magic.

Sa’La flies off to avoid being captured and Wilfred runs into the crowd but is quickly spotted by the Star Marines. He takes off and is pursued by the soldiers. Through some cleaver tricks he manages to avoid them but meets up with Lady Luck. Somehow she can freeze time and uses that ability to talk to Wilfred, saying that the end of the game draws near.

Meanwhile, Mozart goes to a place with a computer and tries to hack into Vern Co. For this we decided to go old school 90’s hacking where everything is represented by a colorful icon. The hacking adventure is short lived however. While disguised as a Trojan horse…while also being a Trojan horse virus, Mozart gets greedy and tries to steal all the money from Vern Co. There’s some heavy security though and Mozart is quickly killed by some Dollards (Dollar Guards). In the real world Mozart’s circuits fry and he dies…but will rise once again because he is a god! Apparently…

The session ends with the new character, DJ, running through the city when everyone around him suddenly freezes. Lady Luck appears and says that it is time.

CREDITS!!!

[video=youtube;xg9_Lx2AWaE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg9_Lx2AWaE[/video]


So yeah, that was the session though I unfortunately screwed over Sa’La through a lot of lucky rolls. I mean really lucky rolls. Otherwise it was a good session and we’re rapidly approaching the end. Look forward to it.

 

[RisTigger]

Episode 10: Lucky Shot


The session began with Vera in prison and Amanda being detained by the black dragon again. She fight with him for a while, and he warns her of Verner's power. Amanda is unconvinced, but the dragon says that she has been invited to talk to Verner. Obviously she decides to follow.

Meanwhile, we meet

Dilan DJ Jamerican
The Acrobatic Felan
DJ is a felan that does whatever and has a mission to take down every dojo in the universe.

Lady Luck meets DJ sand says it is his destiny to help the spartan in jail, by giving him the key. He agrees without much convincing.

Meanwhile in jail, everyone is giving Vera a hard time since she is new meat. Vera then explains that she got arrested when she fought with Geist. Everyone immediately runs to the other side of the room. They explain that she, along with the other three dragons collectively named The FOUR, are Verner's personal enforcers.

DJ arrives at the jail and uses his Chi powers to phase through the wall. Through some luck, he makes it into the jail and frees Vera. She doesn't seem too worried about this stranger freeing her. They hurry out but are caught by some soldiers. Vera claims they were released, but the guards are unconvinced. They go to the front to check the story. And then Vera makes a hail Mary and claims she works for Vern Co. This actually convinces the guards, who immediately let her go and retrieve her weapons for her.

Meanwhile, Amanda reaches Vern Co and is greeted by the FOUR, a small gold dragon, the magician blue dragon, and Geist. She is escorted into an elevator alone. She reaches the top and sees Verner. They have a brief conversation as Verner tries to convince her that this crusade she's on is fruitless. She remains unconvinced. So then he summons...him.

From the floor, comes up a colossal mechanical beast named

TWIN
Giant Mechanoid Hybrid
This is a mysterious being that has the power of teleportation and mastery over biology.

Floating inside of twin, Amanda sees a familiar person, Elieth Runestar.

According to Verner, Elieth is a creature similar to FIRE and QUEEN. A psychic being created by the Space Butterfly. They were the first people to discover the cosmic psychic creature and it warped them physically and mentally. Now they inhabit the bodies of their victims and control unimaginable abilities through unlimited psychic energy.

Elieth's mind was distorted by the event and he no longer remembers who he was. He doesn't remember his real name...ANOTHER.

Amanda is teleported away by TWIN. She meets up with the others and they decide it's time.

Time to take out Verner once and for all.


Episode 11: ANOTHER Battle

The group walks straight into Vern Co. It's obvious that they were expected. There are no guards and no one inside attempts to stop them. Wilfred goes up to the secretary and He (because secretaries can be men) escorts them to 5 elevators, each with a different color. Blue, Red, Gold, Black, Silver.

Vera immediately enters the Red one. Wilfred takes the coin and flips it, catching it in the air and not even bothering to look at it before he enters the Gold door. Sa'La enters the Blue door. DJ enters the Black door. And finally, Amanda enters the Silver door.

(So we split it up so everyone got an individual battle.)

Sa'La vs. Roma

Roma
Dragon Magician
He was the magician that stopped Sa'La easily.

Sa'La arrives on a balcony filled with plants and trees. In the middle she meets Roma. The two take the battle into the air and Sa'La, though powerful can't seem to his Roma. The blue dragon avoids or deflects her abilities and shoots them right back at her with his electrical spells. Sa'La retreats to the ground but Roma electrifies it and hits her with another of his powerful lightning bolts. Sa'La is on her last leg, being continuously electrified by the floor and kept dazed by Roma. She rips through the mind scape, and hits him with a bomb of magical energy straight into his brain. Roma falls to the ground unconscious. Sa'La considers finishing him off, but instead heals him and leaves.


Vera vs Geist

Vera appears and Geist is a bit different. She is wearing the psychic relic, giving her a large shied of psychic energy. She is also floating. Vera in unimpressed. She just takes her sniper rifle and fire. It's not very effective against the psychic being and Vera is hit by a powerful psychic energy. She switches to her laser rifle and fires, and it hits Geist, but all it does it destroy the psychic relic. Geist falls to the ground but fights back using her powerful psychic blast to kill Vera. Inside, FIRE says that he can save her if she just gives in. She has no choice and suddenly she merges with FIRE, her body is consumed by fire and she gains powerful new abilities. Geist is terrified, but continues out of sheer stubbornness that she won't lose. Vera fires a blast laced with FIRE's energy and it rips through Geist, killing her completely.

Inside Vera's mind, she tries to wrench control away from FIRE. She gathers up all her resolve, and suddenly she has her sniper rifle with her. She takes aim and fires. FIRE is destroyed and his energy fully merges with Vera, transforming her into something new.

FIRA
The New Vera
Vera has fully merged with FIRE, making her near godlike.


Wilfred vs Quarles

Wilfred appears in a very posh living room. Quarles is waiting for him, sitting in a comfortable chair sipping whiskey. The two talk briefly about what is happening. Quarles is more ambitious than his siblings, preferring to be on the business end of the world. The FOUR were taught from a young age by Verner, molded by him into his elite group of successors. They want to fight the crew of the Crimson Star because they want to prove themselves. Quarles just wants to end it quickly. He offers Wilfred 600 million credits to just leave, no strings attached. Wilfred seriously considers the offer, but when he feels Vera summon FIRE, he realizes what he is doing. He declines the offer.

Quarles understands and the two shake hands, until Quarles reveals a hidden gun up his sleeve and shoots Wilfred. Wilfred noticed the attack and managed to turn on his shield in time. The two have a brief gunfight before Wilfred disables Quarles' shield. With one shot Quarles surrenders. Wilfred goes to leave but Quarles gives him the money, saying that if he survives he should use that money to live a good life.

Wilfred tries to give some of it back but Quarles says that only one group is leaving here alive.


DJ vs Honeth

The two martial artists face each other in a small dojo. Honeth goes first, using his Fist of the Blind Ogre power to his DJ from across the room. DJ is hit hard, almost dying, but stays up. DJ goads Honeth into charging at him with a sword. DJ uses his chi ability to negate the charge and hits Honeth with a powerful fist that knocks him out in one strike.


Amanda vs Verner

Amanda, meanwhile, is just trying to hold off Verner until the others can arrive. Verner doesn't make it easy, using a powerful shock wave fist attack that knocks Amanda against the wall. Still, she manages to stay alive long enough for everyone to arrive.


The crew has come together and Verner summons his allies as well. First he summons TWIN who opens up, revealing a strange crystal being that Verner claims is the real Elieth Runestar, ANOTHER.

ANOTHER
???
The real Elieth Runestar?

DJ tries to get behind Verner for an attack but ANOTHER uses some strange ability to toss DJ against the wall.

TWIN then summons the FOUR, at least what is left of them and the group fuse into a single dragon with four heads.

FREEDOM
The Beast of Verner
Verner separated FREEDOM into four parts which he raised and trained into the FOUR.

Finally, the two groups are teleported to Earth. At least what's left of it.

Earth has been changed, and is now a wasteland world being embraced by a massive woman named PLANET. This is their final battle. The crew of the Crimson Star vs Four Gods.

To be concluded next session!

CREDITS!!!

[video=youtube;bXsmGSnq3lE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXsmGSnq3lE[/video]

 

[RisTigger]

Episode 12: So Long, Farewell, and Blast Off!

And so we've reached the end. It has been a crazy adventure through space following this crew. I don't really know what else to say. This should be a short recap. It was basically a giant fight.


The final battle commences between Team Runestar and Verner's Forces. The battle starts out with FREEDOM turning the planet into a lava lake. The crew need to jump around or risk burning, except for Sa'La who can run through lava without being damaged.

Wilfred teleports on the dragons back and tries to shoot into the dragon which results in him missing due to trying to stay on its back at the same time. The dragon tries to breath both fire and ice at Wilfred but his shield keeps him safe.

DJ has made it his mission to fight with ANOTHER. Their fight is very even, both of them fighting off the other.

Sa'La and Amanda fight with Verner directly. Amanda tries to use her sword, but Verner is surprisingly powerful. He unleashes an incredibly powerful blast of energy. This inflicts fear upon everyone and they flee.

Sa'La is the only one not affected. She rushes at Verner and unleashes everything in her arsenal. Spell after spell rips through Verner. With one last shot, she breaks Verner and he falls down dead...

The fear is broken and Lady Luck uses her power to return Amanda, DJ, and FIRA to the battlefield.

FREEDOM lands and is furious that Verner has been defeated. PLANET also gets involved, creating a hige sandstorm by brushing her giant hand above the battlefield. FREEDOM uses its ice powers to freeze the sand, hitting everyone with the attack but no one is damaged by it.

DJ jumps at the dragon, hitting one of its heads and breaking it. FIRA blasts through its back and Wilfred delivers the final blow through the hole created by FIRA.

FREEDOM is defeated, but Verner transforms into his true form...

EMPEROR
The King Reigns
The true form of Verner. His power is unknown.

TWIN also enters the battle, hitting Amanda and FIRA with its huge arms. Wilfred and FIRA shoot at the same time, breaking TWIN's chest and unleashes a strange energy.

All the while, ANOTHER is fighting DJ. ANOTHER is questioning who he is and what he is. DJ, going off on a limb, says that ANOTHER is Elieth Runestar and he's a member of Team Runestar. This causes ANOTHER to break down, and the energy from TWIN enters ANOTHER.

EMPEROR tries to fight, but he stops, seeing his allies defeated. He realizes it is hopeless for him. Sa'La asks him what he means, and EMPEROR says that they ruined his plans to save the universe. The Space Butterfly is using PLANET to consume the energy of these planets. He thought the power of the five of them could stop the creature.

Sa'La and the rest agree that they need to do something. EMPEROR sees the coin and realizes something. He says that everyone needs to get into the ship. Once inside, they are greeted with a metallic woman that looks suspiciously like Lady Luck.

KINGDOM
Long may she reign.
KINGDOM is the leader of an underground hacking group Red Faction. She is also the manipulator Lady Luck.

The group puts all their energy into the ship, hoping that ramming into the Space Butterfly might destroy it.

Vera grabs her booze, Wilfred sits in a corner waiting for the end, Sa'La casts her spells to try and help, Amanda pilots the ship, and DJ is excited. The ship takes off and flies straight into the Space Butterfly.

Fade to white.


One Year Later

The crew have landed on a familiar space station and are being interrogated by two familiar customs officers. When Amanda tries to explain that she's a star knight, Mitch tries to tazer her. Luckily for Amanda, she's had a lot more training than Elieth and flips Mitch to the ground.

Steve just drops his taser in surprise...and he still gets flipped like Mitch. She shuts them up pretty easily until Mitch tasers her from the ground.

This just pisses her off and she kicks him in the chest.

They're finally appeased when she shops them her badge. The crew leaves with Mitch and Steve flipping them off from behind.

Vera goes to the bar with Wilfred and Sa'La. Amanda is planning on talking to the authorities with DJ. Elieth stays behind to look at the ship.

Lady Luck appears and asks him, "Do you believe in luck now?"

Well he doesn't fully believe in luck. But he does believe in powerful people.

Credits.

[video=youtube;wpSunpfXoCg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpSunpfXoCg[/video]

And that was Dirty Deeds in Space. We had a lot of fun with this game. WOIN is an interesting system but we're not going to return to this game until it's fully finished. We like the system for the most part.

The biggest weakness we've seen with the system is the immense lack of clarity with many of the rules. I cannot count how many times we've looked at the rules and wondered what they meant. It hampered the game, especially in the beginning. It has gotten better, but stuff like firing into melee has very vague rules at best, and absent at worst like the ammo rules.

Combat was an interesting thing. It's a bit too much for me and the group. We have a different style, though I did have fun experimenting with theater of the mind. We didn't get much out of combat unfortunately.

The spell system is interesting but we would have really liked a complete/updated version and it's very complex.

Still, it was a blast for most of us and I think WOIN could be a great game.

See you later space cowboys!

 

[Morrus]

Thanks! If you have any specific playtest feedback, it would be appreciated (although we are in layout now). I'm glad you enjoyed the playtest process, and thanks for the entertaining story - I appreciate that playtest documents aren't the easiest to use!