5150: New Beginnings AAR

This is a 5150: New Beginnings Bat Rep of a game I played solo. I controlled the Dropout group while the rest were controlled by the game mechanics. At the start of the game I knew the following. I've listed the info in the order that players will use when designing or playing scenarios. The Bat Rep is presented in a casual way with game mechanic references for clarification as needed.

In New beginnings it's all about the story. You'll see what I mean…

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Encounter Type: A Chillin' Encounter where two sides meet to conduct business.

Objective: A group of Dropouts are trying to buy some contraband from a Razor Gang.

Employer: Both groups are self-employed.

Pre-Encounter Intel: Intel was good and the Dropout Leader felt comfortable that there shouldn’t be any surprises.

Area: The deal would be going down in the park located in the NHC Financial District. This was chosen to get the Razor gang out of their territory.

Day Part: The deal was set to go down around 3AM.

Terrain: The intersection located on the NW corner of Freedom Park. See the map below of the 2x2 table.

2x2 foot table divided into nine sections. When gaming in an urban area the sections are reduced from 12" to 8" squares.  

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Law Level: Choosing to have the deal done this late reduced the Law Level to 4. Still a bit high but hopefully the hour would reduce the chance of police intervention.

Weather: A clear night.

PEFs: Two PEFs were initially generated, after the Dropouts and Razors had entered the table. One was in section 2 - see the red marker at the top of the picture - while the other was in the park and would be resolved on turn one.

Grunts Involved: The Dropout Leader (Rep 5) was accompanied by a high Rep 5 Merc Bodyguard and two Rep 4 Mercs. They were hired hands. The Razor (Rep 5) had three low-level Hishen (Rep 3) and her ace in the hole - a Grath (Rep 4).

Deployment: The Dropouts entered into section 4 at the top of the street, the Razors from the south east corner of Freedom Park.

Special Instructions: The Dropout Leader and the Razor has three chances to score a Dropout success on a People Challenge. A Major Success would see the Dropout buying the contraband at a 33% discount while a Minor Success would be an even exchange. A Minor Failure meant the Challenge could be retaken while a Major Failure meant the deal fell through. If after three attempts the deal wasn't done then it would be treated as a Major Failure. This would cause problems as the Dropout Leader already had a buyer for the contraband at a 50% mark up.

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Turn One

The Razor gang started in a section that contained a PEF which was immediately resolved. The PEF turned out to be a group of LWC (Law-abiding Working Class) Blue Service workers coming back from the bars with their dates. Seeing the Grath resulted in them wetting themselves and it didn’t take much persuading to get them to leave down the street. A People Challenge was taken with a Major Success on the Razor's part meaning they would leave quietly. Being unarmed and simply citizens they quickly agreed.

Turn Two

As the LWC headed east down the street the Razor gang reached the NW corner of Freedom Park. They could see the Dropout group crossing the street and heading towards the park.

Just as the Dropout group entered the intersection the remaining PEF moved into the section. Luckily it proved to be nothing, just a case of nerves.

Turn Three

The two groups moved into contact at the edge of the park. The Dropout Leader and Razor began negotiating price. What seemed to be inconsequential at the time was the casual way I had moved my Dropouts. If you look closely you'll see a thin black line between the Dropout Leader and the Razor. This placed us in different sections.

Turn Four

Negotiations were going slow (two turns of Minor Failure with the Razor scoring 1 success more than the DL). One chance left to cut a deal, the DL would try and influence the discussion by offering a Party Favor (+1d6) on the Challenge Table on Turn Five. Then it all went the hell in a hand basket…

Turn Five

Somehow a rival gang had gotten wind that the Razor gang was trying to do a deal with some Dropouts. The Southside Leader figured they could hit the Razors right in the middle of the deal. It would be a two-for, they would whack both parties, get the money and contraband at the same time. Well that's the rational for what happened:

·         Activation dice came up 6, 6. Doubles meant possibly a new PEF if the activation number rolled was higher than the Law level of the area, which it was.

·         This meant a new PEF and bam! It was randomly placed in the same section as the Dropout group.

·         Rolling on the PEF Resolution Table, based on the Law Level, area, and day part, came up Criminal Element- so there would be a real group of Grunts but of who?

·         Rolling on the Contact Table came up Basics - humans.

·         The How Many Grunts came up PG-1 or one figure less than the total on the table, so 8 members of a…

·         Rolling on the Criminal Element Table confirmed it, a rival gang. As you can see it didn’t have to end up this way, starting with the doubles for activation, but the sweet thing of New Beginnings is you never know what can happen. Maybe a boring night on the town or maybe a blood bath, which this would turn out to be.

The Southsiders roll up the street right in the middle of negotiations.

As the new gang arrived it would be a great (?) time to see how the new In Sight test worked. I mean, 17 figures in a firefight from the get go. Here's a brief rundown:

·         I determined that only twelve of the figures had a clear LOS to a target.

·         Each figure rolled 1d6 per level of Rep with some modifiers based on situation, etc.

·         As each figure rolled I placed a d6 next it with the number of successes rolled facing up,

·         After all the figures had rolled, all selected their targets. This meant that some figures would have more than one figure firing at it.

·         After all the dice were rolled and targets selected it was time to start firing. This had taken about three minutes.

·         The Rep bodyguard fired first and a Hishen fired last.

·         Once the firing starts if a figure is hit this is noted and it cannot fire.

·         Those that are missed continue on, no Received Fire test is taken at that time.

·         ALL the fires from both sides are resolved.

·         Both sides now take a Received Fire test with the results of the dice being applied to each figure that had to take the test.

·         Those that could return fire did but this was done by Rep from high to low with those hit before they could fire missing their chance.

·         After two more rounds of fire, three rounds of fire total and a diminishing number of figures firing with each round, the firefight ended with the Southsiders ducked back in the alley and behind one of the buildings.

·         NOW it was time for the Recover From Knock Down tests. Final score.

o    Southsiders - 3 Ducked Back, 3 Out of the Fight, 1 Bleeder, and 1 Obviously Dead.

o    Dropouts - 1 Obviously Dead (the Rep 5 bodyguard), 1 Duck Back, 1 Out of the Fight, and the Dropout Leader Stunned having scored four Star Power successes from an OD result.

o    Razor gang - 1 Hishen Out of the Fight.

Total time - Ten minutes from the start of the shooting to the finish. Here are a couple of pictures of the carnage.

From the Razor's side.

From the Southsiders side.

Turn Six

FYI - All the shooting resulted in a call to the police being made by an "innocent bystander".

The Southsiders spent the turn staying in place, the Dropouts picked up their wounded and the Grath stepped into the street to provide cover. The Razor waited on the Dropout Leader to clear his head, recover from stunned, so they could try to get the deal done.

Turn Seven

No cops but sirens were heard. This also ratcheted up the Law Level to 5.

As the Razor and the Dropout Leader finished their negotiations (it went bad with accusations flying both ways) one of the Hishen ran over and "capped" the bleeder in the head. One of the Southsiders grew a pair and stepped out from behind cover with a shotgun. The Grath and the ganger fired at the same time. The ganger went down, OD with a head wound, and the Grath took two OD results to the chest. But being a Grath he shrugged it off.

Turn Eight

A Police cruiser arrived from the north with both officers drawing their guns and yelling at the Hishen and Grath to "Drop their weapons!" In Sights were taken, the Razor went first, and both officers dropped to the ground, stunned, having suffered a Mental Blast from the Razor. More sirens could be heard, the attempted deal had ended in failure and each side grabbed their wounded and started heading to the east.

Turn Nine

A SWAT team arrived from the south end. Seeing the two downed officers they don’t waste words and cut down a slow moving Hishen and one of the last of the Southsiders. Sirens blaring from behind, the two groups make it away into the night.  

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Overall it took about 30 minutes including time to make some edits and re-writes to the rules as things came up. A very fun and very entertaining game leaving me with a feeling of having let it get away from me. In retrospect my critical error was negotiating at the edge of the park instead of going deeper inside. Leaving the LOS available was my downfall. But then again, I hadn’t expected an additional PEF to be generated with such a high Law Level. That was one reason why I had picked the Financial District.

After the encounter no one could try to improve their Rep or Skill as they all retired and the objective was not achieved. I rolled for reduction of Rep or Skill for each figure and it resulted in one of the Merc bodyguards dropping one Savvy point. Must have taken a hit to the head.