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Hyperlanes

This is a quick rundown of our first session with this new system.

There are 5 of us plus a GM.  We all created characters, and not one of us created a human/humanoid player character.

  • GM: Nels
  • Bruce: droid
  • Dave: droid
  • Ray: lizard
  • Glenn: turtle
  • Me: koala

We got through a ‘training’ session with our characters’ new employer, who hired us to do a thing.

We got a ship, which was a piece of crap, so we flew to where Bruce’s character’s ship was located, and that’s about where we stopped.  I think.

We may have ended on the planet where we have to do the thing.

So far, it’s much more straight forward than our experience with Mutants and Masterminds, which makes sense since Hyperlanes in basically Space D&D 5E.

Oh, and Grok (my koala character) is armed with a pistol and an axe.  The choppy kind, not a guitar.

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Star Trek Adventures

I went through the character creation section of the latest Star Trek RPG system (PDF), and the result was my obligatory Vulcan science officer.

The system seems solid, I just don’t know if my group will ever get around to this game.

We all like Star Trek, but we all like super heroes, too, and couldn’t get our heads around Mutants and Masterminds.

Also, we’re starting up Hyperlanes, which is a cinematic space opera RPG using the D&D 5th Edition rules.

So, for the time being, Lt. Commander Seevok, science officer of the starship [to be determined], will sit in another file folder until needed.

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Homecoming Review

My favorite Spider-Man movie.

Your mileage may vary.

Within the first few minutes, my jaw dropped.  I almost screamed.

No, I can’t say why.  Once you see the movie, you’ll understand, if you know me.

The little things, like Mets stuff in Peter’s room, the music, the nods to the rest of the MCU, made this movie so personal to me.

My spirit animal in this movie is Ned.  I’d be him in this story, but much skinnier, like I was in high school.

And it really did feel like an ’80s high school film, John Hughes-style.

Go see it!  Eight thumbs up!

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Winning?

“… Is that what you think it’s about? I’m not trying to win. I’m not doing this because I want to beat someone … or because I hate someone or because I want to blame someone. It’s not because it’s fun. God knows it’s not because it’s easy. It’s not even because it works because it hardly ever does. I do what I do because it’s right. Because it’s decent. And above all, it’s kind. It’s just that. Just kind. If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live … maybe not many, maybe not for long. Hey, maybe there’s no point in any of this at all, but it’s the best I can do, and I will stand here doing it until it kills me. You’re going to die, too, someday. When will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand. Where I stand is where I fall.”

I don’t want [him] to go.

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Phone Update

Picked up an OtterBox case for the new phone, because the other one didn’t really protect the bottom of the phone.

Never had an OtterBox case before.

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Target for Today: Mission #1 AAR

After Action Report: August, 1942

Target for Today: Amiens (Airfield)

Bomber: Super-X (Mission #1)
Group position: Low
Bomber #: 15

Good fighter cover to and from target zone.

Outbound:
Zone 1: Good weather, no complications during take off.
Zone 2: 50% cloud cover, no German fighter resistance.
Zone 3: Clear skies, moderate German fighter resistance, mostly driven off by fighter cover, until 2 fighters got through.  Both were shot down, 1xME 109 by Sgts Hayes and Stewart, 1xME 109 by Sgt. Martin.
Zone 4: Clear skies, no German fighter resistance.
Zone 5: TARGET ZONE – Clear skies, target slightly obscured, moderate German fighter resistance, driven off by fighter cover.  Light Flak, no hits to bomber.  Bomb run was on target, 50% of target damaged.

Inbound:
Zone 5: Clear skies, heavy German fighter resistance, driven off by fighter cover.
Zone 4: 50% cloud cover, no German fighter resistance.
Zone 3: 50% cloud cover, moderate German fighter resistance, driven off by fighter cover.
Zone 2: 50% cloud cover, no German fighter resistance.
Zone 1: Good weather, no complications during landing.

First mission under my belt, and I gotta say, I prefer this game to B-17 Flying Fortress Leader. I think both games play rather smoothly, once you figure out the mechanics of the rules.

I prefer to fly a single bomber in a group, instead of the entire group all at once.  That’s probably due to my playing B-17 Queen of the Skies for so many years.  TfT plays like an enhanced version of the original QotS game.

I’ll give the single bomber game in FFL a shot.

—

Zone 3

Long: “Fighter coming in, 1:30 high!”

Hayes: “There’s one on our 6, high!”

Stewart: “I see him!”

Stewart and Hayes opened fire, blasting the ME 109 to hell.

Stewart: “Ha!  Got him!”

Hayes: “No, I got him!”

Stewart: “Call it a tie?”

Hayes: “Yeah, okay.”

Martin squeezes the trigger on his right waist gun, obliterating the remaining ME 109.

Mitchell: “Hey, the kid got one!”

Thompson: “Nice shooting there.”

Martin: “Thanks, Chief.”

Thompson: “Don’t call me ‘Chief’.”

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Find a Crew

I found a random name/age/home state generator for Target for Today.

The crew of the B-17 Flying Fortress “Super-X”:

Name Rank Age Home State
Bomber Super-X – – –
Pilot Wallace Thompson Lt. 21 NY
Co-Pilot Leon Mitchell Lt. 28 OH
Navigator Ronald Long Lt. 22 TN
Bombardier Chester Bryant Lt. 25 CT
Engineer Wayne Hill Sgt. 21 IL
Radio Operator David Stewart Sgt. 22 MT
Ball Gunner Billy Hughes Sgt. 23 NJ
Left Waist Gunner Edwin Bennett Sgt. 23 GA
Right Waist Gunner Philip Martin Sgt. 20 CA
Tail Gunner Joe Hayes Sgt. 21 MA

This gives the game a bit more ‘character’, like it did in the older B-17 Queen of the Skies.  By putting names to a fictional crew, you pull for them to survive.

Back in the day, I used names of people I knew.  Still do, as the B-17 QotS campaign for the bomber “Facebook” will attest.

First mission is ready, raid on the airfields of Amiens, France.

Wheels up in the morning.  I should be done with the rules by then.