VotO #000: Meeting the Crew
Feb. 5th, 2022 04:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tegyriusI recently picked up a copy of Five Parsecs From Home. In lieu of any in-person gaming (or doing productive work on any of my other projects), I'm going to start chronicling my crew's shenanigans here. Let's see how long this entertains me.
To set the stage, let's introduce ourheroes protagonists. As this is my first 5P campaign, I went with all humans. Don't look at me in that tone of voice. It also fits the minis I have painted.
For this and future entries, I'll be putting game-specific bits in brackets.
The crew is [brought together by common cause] and has a reputation as [defenders of the downtrodden]. The cause in question? I guess it's a general lack of respect for illegitimate authority and an excess of meddlesomeness.
Crane (The Captain)
Crane hails from a crumbling megaplex on Begnion V, where he was one of the few honest cops in the arcology. Unusually, he didn't leave because of corruption in the department or the threat of imminent gang assassination. He had to escape Begnion V's toxic atmosphere, which was slowly killing him from the lungs out. Deciding he had little to lose by pursuing his childhood dream of being a free trader, he talked his partner into getting out while they still could. They cashed in their pensions and drained their savings for astrogation lessons and a heavily-mortgaged starship. Now all they needed was a crew...
[background: giant overcrowded dystopian city; motivation: survival; class: special agent]
[stats: reactions 2, speed 5", combat skill +0, toughness 4, savvy +0, luck 1]
[initial gear assignment: hand laser with tracker sight, glare sword (totally not a lightsaber)]
Legs (The XO)
Legs was Crane's partner on Begnion V, only slightly and occasionally bent and usually in the service of getting things done that Crane didn't really need to know about. This occasionally cost her, most notably when she lost her original parts from mid-thigh down to a plasma blast, but the department had a damn fine medical plan. Not much of an idealist, she knew she and Crane were on borrowed time, so getting off-world and making a fresh start sounded good to her when he brought it up. She's not really sold on the mercantile life, but fringe space has plenty of places for her to apply a little judicious leverage to local political systems in the hope of preventing more planets from going the way of her homeworld.
[background: giant overcrowded dystopian city; motivation: political; class: bounty hunter]
[stats: reactions 1, speed 7" (!), combat skill +0, toughness 3, savvy +0]
[initial gear assignment: boosted leg (implant), shotgun, brutal melee weapon, communicator]
Flash (The Engineer)
Flash and her brother Otter grew up on the K'Erin-occupied world of Lledohiri, under the boot of alien overlords. Determined to find passage off the world, they fell in with a smuggling ring. Flash started as a dockworker-lookout and eventually worked her way up to ship's engineer, earning her lift ticket through dogged competence. The syndicate eventually fell prey to a K'Erin crackdown while Flash and Otter were on a run, leaving them and the rest of their ship's crew at loose ends. Looking for a new job (and a flight out of K'Erin border space), Flash met Legs in a highport bar and impressed the XO with her technical skills and her libertarian leanings.
[background: subjugated colony on alien world; motivation: political; class: working class]
[stats: reactions 1, speed 4", combat skill +0, toughness 3, savvy +1, luck 1]
[initial gear assignment: scrap pistol, displacer]
Otter (The Thief)
Otter always tagged along in Flash's shadow - not because she was the dominant sibling but because it was easier for him to get away with shit if everyone was paying attention to her. While Flash's career arc was steady and stable, Otter played riskier games for higher stakes, always on the lookout for a crate ready to fall off the back of a truck or a door that was mostly unlocked. He's sly, cunning, and bears constant watching, though he is smart enough to avoid bringing too much trouble home.
[background: subjugated colony on alien world; motivation: adventure; class: petty criminal]
[stats: reactions 1, speed 5", combat skill +0, toughness 3, savvy +0]
[initial gear assignment: colony rifle, stealth gear]
Beech (The Face)
Beech didn't breathe natural air until her third decade. Growing up on an orbital shipyard over Nadus P2DW, she was fascinated with the planetary environments she only saw in holos. The day she finished her tech apprenticeship, she caught a shuttle planetside and never looked back. She works for her passage as a purser, cook, and hydroponics tech, but her real passion is capturing landscape imagery and sensory recordings in the hopes of inspiring kids like herself to escape their tin can habitats and experience the galaxy.
[background: space station; motivation: discovery; class: artist]
[stats: reactions 1, speed 4", combat skill +0, toughness 3, savvy +1]
[initial gear assignment: handgun, snooper bot]
Ice Machine (The Shooter)
Ice lets everyone assume he got his handle because of something to do with his coolness. The truth is that in his first urban engagement, he missed the enemy walker he was shooting at but killed it by accidentally piercing the cryogenic tank behind it. Since his first enlistment on Zosunia II, he's bounced around a half-dozen armies and mercenary commands. He's restless but not good at lone-wolfing it and usually finds himself in the role of squad peacemaker. He's also a lousy gambler - he first got on the crew after a losing streak in a poker game with Crane, but he worked that debt off long ago and has stuck around anyway.
[background: drifter; motivation: freedom; class: soldier]
[stats: reactions 1, speed 4", combat skill +1, toughness 3, savvy +0, 2 xp]
[initial gear assignment: infantry laser]
To set the stage, let's introduce our
For this and future entries, I'll be putting game-specific bits in brackets.
The crew is [brought together by common cause] and has a reputation as [defenders of the downtrodden]. The cause in question? I guess it's a general lack of respect for illegitimate authority and an excess of meddlesomeness.
Crane (The Captain)
Crane hails from a crumbling megaplex on Begnion V, where he was one of the few honest cops in the arcology. Unusually, he didn't leave because of corruption in the department or the threat of imminent gang assassination. He had to escape Begnion V's toxic atmosphere, which was slowly killing him from the lungs out. Deciding he had little to lose by pursuing his childhood dream of being a free trader, he talked his partner into getting out while they still could. They cashed in their pensions and drained their savings for astrogation lessons and a heavily-mortgaged starship. Now all they needed was a crew...
[background: giant overcrowded dystopian city; motivation: survival; class: special agent]
[stats: reactions 2, speed 5", combat skill +0, toughness 4, savvy +0, luck 1]
[initial gear assignment: hand laser with tracker sight, glare sword (totally not a lightsaber)]
Legs (The XO)
Legs was Crane's partner on Begnion V, only slightly and occasionally bent and usually in the service of getting things done that Crane didn't really need to know about. This occasionally cost her, most notably when she lost her original parts from mid-thigh down to a plasma blast, but the department had a damn fine medical plan. Not much of an idealist, she knew she and Crane were on borrowed time, so getting off-world and making a fresh start sounded good to her when he brought it up. She's not really sold on the mercantile life, but fringe space has plenty of places for her to apply a little judicious leverage to local political systems in the hope of preventing more planets from going the way of her homeworld.
[background: giant overcrowded dystopian city; motivation: political; class: bounty hunter]
[stats: reactions 1, speed 7" (!), combat skill +0, toughness 3, savvy +0]
[initial gear assignment: boosted leg (implant), shotgun, brutal melee weapon, communicator]
Flash (The Engineer)
Flash and her brother Otter grew up on the K'Erin-occupied world of Lledohiri, under the boot of alien overlords. Determined to find passage off the world, they fell in with a smuggling ring. Flash started as a dockworker-lookout and eventually worked her way up to ship's engineer, earning her lift ticket through dogged competence. The syndicate eventually fell prey to a K'Erin crackdown while Flash and Otter were on a run, leaving them and the rest of their ship's crew at loose ends. Looking for a new job (and a flight out of K'Erin border space), Flash met Legs in a highport bar and impressed the XO with her technical skills and her libertarian leanings.
[background: subjugated colony on alien world; motivation: political; class: working class]
[stats: reactions 1, speed 4", combat skill +0, toughness 3, savvy +1, luck 1]
[initial gear assignment: scrap pistol, displacer]
Otter (The Thief)
Otter always tagged along in Flash's shadow - not because she was the dominant sibling but because it was easier for him to get away with shit if everyone was paying attention to her. While Flash's career arc was steady and stable, Otter played riskier games for higher stakes, always on the lookout for a crate ready to fall off the back of a truck or a door that was mostly unlocked. He's sly, cunning, and bears constant watching, though he is smart enough to avoid bringing too much trouble home.
[background: subjugated colony on alien world; motivation: adventure; class: petty criminal]
[stats: reactions 1, speed 5", combat skill +0, toughness 3, savvy +0]
[initial gear assignment: colony rifle, stealth gear]
Beech (The Face)
Beech didn't breathe natural air until her third decade. Growing up on an orbital shipyard over Nadus P2DW, she was fascinated with the planetary environments she only saw in holos. The day she finished her tech apprenticeship, she caught a shuttle planetside and never looked back. She works for her passage as a purser, cook, and hydroponics tech, but her real passion is capturing landscape imagery and sensory recordings in the hopes of inspiring kids like herself to escape their tin can habitats and experience the galaxy.
[background: space station; motivation: discovery; class: artist]
[stats: reactions 1, speed 4", combat skill +0, toughness 3, savvy +1]
[initial gear assignment: handgun, snooper bot]
Ice Machine (The Shooter)
Ice lets everyone assume he got his handle because of something to do with his coolness. The truth is that in his first urban engagement, he missed the enemy walker he was shooting at but killed it by accidentally piercing the cryogenic tank behind it. Since his first enlistment on Zosunia II, he's bounced around a half-dozen armies and mercenary commands. He's restless but not good at lone-wolfing it and usually finds himself in the role of squad peacemaker. He's also a lousy gambler - he first got on the crew after a losing streak in a poker game with Crane, but he worked that debt off long ago and has stuck around anyway.
[background: drifter; motivation: freedom; class: soldier]
[stats: reactions 1, speed 4", combat skill +1, toughness 3, savvy +0, 2 xp]
[initial gear assignment: infantry laser]