Bringer of Stories Presents GURPS: A Space Opera

Game Master ZenFox42

You have the translation box EarthGov gave you, and Terra spent the 3 month trip to the cluster learning the language as well.

Aster smiles and nods to everyone. He'll stand behind Rix and try and play dumb guard.

Derek gets out of his armor. I imagine a not-too-long, but somewhat involved, process similar to what you see in Fallout 4.

"We were told that displaying our weapons was a sign of honor in your culture. I meant no disrespect."

"I respect your display of arms and armor, but in the feast to come I thought you might want to get out of your...armor...in order to be able to eat" replies the King.

As he shows you around his "palace", explaining the meaning of the tapestries, and generally telling the history of his people, mostly thru descriptions of grand and glorious battles, he mentions that thru interactions with all the other races in the cluster, they have long since learned that while food from one planet *might* not nourish someone from another, it is never harmful.

Finally he takes you to a grand hall, where a lavish banquet has been set out. He tells you that while protocol demands that you not talk "business" (trade agreements, etc.) during the meal, you may talk about yourselves and your planet as much as you want to.

The food is mostly meat dishes, with a scattering of vegetables in them, and different sauces for flavor. While the sauces smell unlike anything you've ever smelled before, they do not smell bad.

What do you do?

Olivia will eat enthusiastically, unless she starts to feel sick.

She will try to talk to any non-humans nearby. She's a little bit overwhelmed by the number of people and aliens about, but resists her desire to clam up and try not to be noticed, because she can't resist the opportunity to have a conversation with somebody who might know things that no human knows.

She will try to talk about either scientific or technical topics. She's interested in learning about the aliens' mathematics and physics. Do they express their laws in the same way as humans? Have they figured out any laws of physics that humans haven't, or vice versa?

Derek will eat the food. He will speak with whoever is near him politely, but not try to start up extensive conversations. If the conversation turns towards anything vaguely strategic or military at all, he will be very guarded in his answers; he still doesn't feel comfortable enough with this species to reveal too much about his own species' capabilities or doctrine.

His AI companion, Crate, will monitor his battlesuit. If anybody tries to tamper with it, Crate will buzz Derek's communicator, and Derek will quickly pull out his communicator and find out what's going on.

Aster continues to play the roll of dumb bodyguard, refusing all offers of food or drink, just on the chance that they're being had.

He has no problem taking the meal time to study those around him while he has his AI sniffing for electronics.

Rix eats lightly, worried the food might be upsetting in some way and not really wanting to eat a lot of meat. She decides better not to try to explain what a vegetarian is to these lot.

In conversation, she tries to establish a kind of informal trade of information, offering up something parallel about earth for each explanation of something about their world. She has more to say about medial science, obviously, wondering what, if any, forms of disease or genetic disorders still afflict people.

Terra, being versed in the language, spends her time half trying to talk to the Leeunids, and half translating conversations for other people.

The food has no ill effects on anyone.

Olivia, the bulk of the Leeunids in the room are warriors, and know little to nothing about math and physics.

Derek, the Leeunids around you start talking of battles they've been in, so you learn something about their tactics - they stride in and hit hard.

Aster, you detect surprisingly little electronics nearby.

Rix, you get a picture of their world as savage and tribal. Mostly open savanna, where warriors still hunt unintelligent beasts for...well, not for sport, but more for macho bragging rights. They seem to have about the same range of sicknesses that humans have.

Aster subvocalizes into his comm to the others, ask how they managed to get to space. There isn't a lot of technology around.

After the conversations seem to have exhausted the topics they elect to broach, Rix says, "So what is the nature of the larger community of worlds with intelligent life? Is there any kind of government, federations of worlds perhaps?"

The King answers "No, every planet has its own means of government, and planets generally have treaties and/or trade agreements with several other planets. Planets don't generally interfere with other planets' government, but"

And suddenly there's a huge commotion outside. A Leeunid rushes in and whispers to the King, who goes pale (even underneath his fur), and shouts "She wouldn't *DARE*!" and gets up and runs out. The other Leeunids look at the messenger, who merely says the words "Death Dust", at which point *everyone* gets up and leaves.

Assuming that you all follow, you eventually reach the front doors of the king's palace, where a throng of Leeunids are looking skywards in horror and dismay. Looking up yourselves, you see a space ship zooming around high in the atmosphere, trailing what appears to be a fine purple haze behind it.

Two smaller shuttles land in the nearby grass. Their doors open and two squads of an ape-like race climb out. One of them steps forward and addresses the crowd in a grunting voice :

"Rebellious scum of Simba, hear my words! Queen Anathraxa, supreme ruler of the cluster, has decreed that your race be punished for refusing to pay her tribute. Her Warships have dropped Death Dust into your atmosphere. Within a few short months your world will be dead, and you along with it. Your women and children will be moved to resettlement camps to await their fate. Your menfolk are to come with us."

With that, the ape-men fan out and begin advancing on the crowd. Several of the warriors, their honor impinged, charge forward, claws drawn. A burst of ray gun fire takes them down, including King Raoor, your host.

"Forget the resettlement camp," sneers the officer. "Kill the men and do what you will with the females."

What do you do?
You can all assume (even if you didn't say so) that you wore your armor and primary weapon to the feast, to stay in line with the Leeunid's protocols.

glad I kept my armor on...

Aster immediately activates the defensive systems of his suit, as he also kneels and swings his guass rifle around. Including sealing his suit.

He'll aim first for where ever the ray gun came from. If it is from the ape-men he'll take a moment to aim then fire.

Multispectral chameleon surface +8 stealth vision/infrared, +4 hyperspectral/ultraviolet, +2 high/low ban hyperspectral.

stealth vs 11 + MCS: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 3) = 9 made by 4 to 10

Gauss Rifle, RoF 12, Acc 7+2, Dam 6d+2 (3)pi; 1 round to aim,
fire, rinse and repeat

guns (rifle) default from guns (pistol) -2 @ 10+Acc 9: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 3) = 10
success by 9, up to 4 shots hit, depending on range modifiers
slug #1: 6d6 + 2 ⇒ (2, 3, 2, 1, 1, 5) + 2 = 16
slug #2: 6d6 + 2 ⇒ (5, 3, 5, 3, 1, 4) + 2 = 23
slug #3: 6d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 3, 5, 3, 1, 4) + 2 = 19
slug #4: 6d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4) + 2 = 23

Derek will get into his battlesuit. (GM: how long should this take? I'm guessing it would be set up for rapid donning and disembarking, but maybe I've just played too many video games.)

"Crate, analyze the situation. Are there any hidden enemies?"

Combat AI in battlesuit: Tactics 14: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 5, 6) = 12

HT 10: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 3, 6) = 10

Olivia's heart races and her eyes widen. She feels the panic starting to overwhelm her, but manages to keep ahold of herself. (Combat Paralysis; she made her HT roll.)

She looks for any nearby cover, and dives behind it. If she can't find cover, she cowers behind Derek's battlesuit.

Once she's in cover, she draws her mini plasma torch. "Oh no, oh no, this wasn't supposed to go bad! I don't even have my regular plasma torch!"

(Olivia doesn't even own a pistol... but she does carry a mini-plasma torch around, because you never know when you might need to open a bulkhead to do some repairs.)

(She also doesn't have any training in the right skill to use it in combat... but, oh well! Olivia is really not a combat person.)

Derek - according to the RAW, "Unless otherwise noted, a battlesuit opens at the waist so that the user can easily step in or out. This takes three seconds, plus another three to screw on the separate helmet, if there is one. However, it takes 30 seconds to do this and perform all the subsystem checks, power everything up, and connect all features (such as the waste relief and biomedical telemetry). This time is halved on a successful Battlesuit skill roll. It’s also possible to omit the check-out procedure and just start moving, but if so, the GM should feel free to have internal systems fail (“due to your rush, the suit filter wasn’t properly locked down – looks like that nerve gas will affect you after all”)." So 6 rounds to get in, 15 to get every feature going on a successful Battlesuit roll, or 30 on a failure.

Do you at least have any sidearms that you carry when not in the suit?

Also, I clicked on your alias to look at your GURPS stats, and found you haven't created a Profile yet - could you please do that as soon as possible? Thanks!

Terra focuses her mental energy on an opponent :

Boxing, TN=16: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 4) = 7

which does

Damage=STR=TK=20: 3d6 + 2 ⇒ (5, 6, 1) + 2 = 14 HP

The target defends as if attacked by an invisible opponent - "if the defender is aware he is being attacked, he may Dodge at -4. If he is completely unaware of his attacker, he gets no defense at all!" (I would assume that this would apply to at least this first attack).

Dr. Rix, you doing anything?

Rix too finds herself struggling to act when faced with combat.

Combat Paralysis disadvantage:
Target = HT, 10. standard roll: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 2) = 8

She masters her fear and attempts to moves toward the closest Leeunid who has fallen to try to do psychic healing, the king if she can.

Assuming she can get close enough to touch a fallen Leeunid:

Target = Psionic Healing Skill, 15
Fatigue expended on success: 2, which can cure 4 points of damage.

standard roll: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 5, 5) = 15

The stress of the situation is almost too much, but she manages some healing.

When it was clear that a potentially hostile situation was developing, Boomer ran to his battlesuit, quickly put it on, asked Crate to scan for threats and the hostile situation, and rushed through the full bootup procedure.

Battlesuit 16: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 4) = 11

He then made his way outside, just in time to see the hostile aliens starting to kill their hosts.

Can he act this turn, or should I wait?

Aster - since you're Aiming to get the Acc bonus, you're taking this full round to aim, and your shots will go off next round.
Also, the 4th ed rules are slightly different : you get a +2 to your Target Number (TN) for having a Rof of 12, so you made it by 11.
Also also, the number of hits is no longer capped at 4, you hit as many times as you made the roll by, divided by your Rcl (2). So you get another hit! Roll damage.
Finally, with a RoF of 12, you can "Spray Fire" to hit multiple targets, but that's complicated, and requires you to declare in advance how many shots per target, and roll per target (and you waste shots). See "Spraying Fire" on page 409 of the 4th ed. second book ("Campaigns") for future interest.

Boomer - you got your suit on quickly enough to join the first round of attacks. Go for it!

Didn't know about the TN modifier.

5th hit: 6d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 6, 1, 2, 3, 1) + 2 = 16

spraying fire looks like it might be okay for one or two additional targets at my current abilities. I still need to aim for the acc bonuses.

Boomer, suited up, aims his laser rifle at one of the apemen, acquiring a target and then opening fire.

Round 1: Aim. Round 2: Fire. He will repeat this as long as there are still ape-men threatening. However, he will also ask Crate (his AI) to evaluate the tactical situation. If he can move and get in front of softer targets (including our alien allies) to provide them the protection of his battlesuite, he may take a round or two to do that in the future.

Effective skill in round 2 = 16 + 2 for targeting software + 12 Acc - speed/range penalty = 30 - speed/range

Attack: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 5, 6) = 17
Damage, burn with armor divisor 2: 6d6 ⇒ (1, 1, 6, 3, 2, 5) = 18

Oops! That's a miss. 17 is only a critical failure if effective skill after speed/range is 15 or less. It sounds like the apes are standing, so speed shouldn't be a factor; a range penalty of -15 is 700 yards, and I'm guessing they're a lot closer than that.

Ah, yes, also, rapid fire is another +2 to hit (RoF 10), but since he didn't hit, no worry about extra shots hitting.

Ok, now that everyone's posted their actions, I have to figure out the ape-men's actions. It's been a long time since I DM'd GURPS (it took me well over an hour to figure out the consequences of Aster's attack), and with all its fiddly little details, that may take me a day or two...

ALL - please note that there is no longer a Snap Shot penalty of -4 in GURPS 4th ed!

Olivia - I don't see *any* armor in your description?!? You might want to invest in at least a Monoweave bodysuit. Every little bit of DR helps your survival...

Yeah... she's really not a combat person. She's sort of like Kaylee from Firefly. This is why her first thought was to dive for cover and get behind something.

She can at least have an armored vacc suit. "A vacc suit covers the whole body, including a rigid, removable helmet and life support pack. It’s usually festooned with exterior pockets, sticky patches, straps, and hooks for access to equipment, plus at least two lifeline hooks for safety when outside a vessel."

I'm wearing the next version up the space biosuit. These are both civilian suits. Mine has less armor but more endurance.

If there's anything you'd like me to add to my character sheet to make combat easier, let me know.

Check out the link in my header for "detailed armor". Or look at the spoiler on Rix's profile for the armor details. I envision these as looking like normal clothes: a jumpsuit plus lab coat, just taking advantage of the futuristic fabrics, plus armored shades and combat boots.

GM: I've got a rich set of files and graphic arts programs for maps. Let me know if I can help with creating a map if it would help.

A vacc suit is designed for the vacuum of space, and as such has way more stuff than you'd usually need to carry around with you (like air tanks, etc.). It also costs $10,000 minimum and weighs 25-30 pounds, whereas a Nanoweave (sorry, not Monoweave) bodysuit only costs $900 and weighs 6 pounds.

ALL - please note, the basic rules say that if you layer armors, you suffer a -1 to DX and ALL DX-based skills, which includes Shooting!

ALL - please see Discussion for a...well, discussion...on combat.

Ok, let's get this show on the road...

The scene : there's a low (mid-thigh high) brick wall around the King's palace. The ape-men are an average of 10 hex away, for a Shooting penalty of -4 (all-around).

Since those with weapons are aiming this turn, the Ape-Men all open fire :
Two shoot at Aster :
Guns, TN=17: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 5) = 14
Guns, TN=17: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 5) = 13
Aster attempts to Dodge both :
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 1) = 9
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 3, 2) = 6
so one hits, doing
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 2, 3) = 13 - 10 DR = 3 HP
Aster, you take 3 HP damage

Two shoot at Boomer (heh-why bother?) :
Guns, TN=17: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 5, 1) = 7
Guns, TN=17: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 2) = 11
Boomer attempts to Dodge both :
Dodge, TN=9: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 6, 5) = 15
Dodge, TN=9: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 5) = 14
so both hit, doing
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 4, 1) = 10 - 52 DR = 0 HP
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 3, 5) = 13 - 52 DR = 0 HP

Two shoot at Olivia :
Guns, TN=17: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 5) = 13
Guns, TN=17: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 1) = 4
She attempts to Dodge+Drop both :
Dodge, TN=11: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 3) = 8
Dodge, TN=11: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 5) = 11
so neither one hits!

Two shoot at Rix (I'm assuming she's crouched to do her healing) :
Guns, TN=15: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 4) = 16
Guns, TN=15: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 5) = 12
She attempts to Dodge one (since she's Healing, she can't take Increased Defense) :
Dodge, TN=7: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 1) = 6
So neither one hits!

Two shoot at Terra :
Guns, TN=17: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 1) = 9
Guns, TN=17: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 5, 4) = 15
She attempts to Dodge both :
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 6) = 9
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 1, 5) = 9
so both hit, doing
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 1, 5) = 14 - 7 DR = 7 HP
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (1, 5, 1, 3) = 10 - 7 DR = 3 HP
Terra takes 10 HP damage (ouch!)

Rix - please roll how much you healed the King by.

Terra shouts out "Rix! I need some help over here!" and hits the dirt.

Olivia, you are prone, but not near the wall yet. You can move over to it next turn, if you wish.

The Ape-Men act first next turn, but I won't be able to post their actions until tomorrow.

So the ape-men come to this planet and only shoot the aliens? Every one of the new and strange aliens is being targeted? How many of them actually shot at one of the residents of the planet?

perc @13: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 4) = 12

...

Target = Psionic Healing Skill, 15
Fatigue expended on success: 2, which can cure 4 points of damage.

standard roll: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 5, 5) = 15

...

fnord, I'm not rolling for the Ape-Men that are shooting at the locals (and keep in mind, both Aster and Boomer raised their weapons and aimed them at the Ape-Men, so they knew you were a threat). And the Ape-Men may just be kill-happy, targeting anything humanoid they can see.
Rest assured, carnage is abounding all around.

Catch-up from Round 1 : Terra damages Ape-Man "A" for 10 HP. He appears rattled, but does not go down.

Round 2
The Ape-Men have a Move of 7, so they go first.

Two shoot at Aster :
Guns, TN=17: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 4) = 12
Guns, TN=17: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 1) = 9
Aster attempts to Dodge both :
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 1) = 10
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 4, 5) = 15
so both hit, doing
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (5, 5, 2, 4) = 16 - 10 DR = 6 HP
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 1, 3) = 11 - 10 DR = 1 HP
Aster takes 7 HP damage.

Two shoot at Boomer :
Guns, TN=17: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 5) = 12
Guns, TN=17: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 2) = 9
Boomer attempts to Dodge both :
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 6, 3) = 13
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 1) = 10
so both hit, doing
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 1, 1) = 13 - 52 DR = 0 HP
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 2, 6) = 15 - 52 DR = 0 HP

Two shoot at Olivia (-2 for being Prone) :
Guns, TN=15: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 5, 1) = 10
Guns, TN=15: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 6) = 12
Olivia attempts to Dodge both :
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 6) = 13
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 5) = 11
so both hit, doing
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 2, 3) = 13 - 7 DR = 6 HP
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (2, 1, 5, 1) = 9 - 7 DR = 2 HP
Olivia takes 8 HP damage

Two shoot at Rix (-2 for crouched) :
Guns, TN=15: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 1) = 6
Guns, TN=15: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 5) = 10
Rix attempts to Dodge both :
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 1) = 10
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 5) = 11
so both hit, doing
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 2, 1) = 6 - 10 DR = 0 HP
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 1, 4) = 11 - 10 DR = 1 HP
Rix takes 1 HP damage

Two shoot at Terra (-2 for Prone) :
Guns, TN=15: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 5, 5) = 14
Guns, TN=15: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 5) = 11
Terra attempts to Dodge both :
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 5, 3) = 9
Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 3) = 11
so both hit, doing
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 6, 6) = 23 - 7 DR = 16 HP
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 2, 1) = 8 - 7 DR = 1 HP
Terra takes 17 HP damage

ALL - see Discussion for my thoughts on the combat so far.

So, with the ret-con in place, Aster has taken 5 HP, and Terra has taken 13 HP.

Boomer's Move is 6, so he goes next, but his shot misses.

Aster fires next, and while his Guns skill is at -1, it doesn't change the fact that 5 of his shots hit (we'll say they hit Ape-Man "B") :

Dodge, TN=8: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 3) = 9

slug #1: 16-4(DR) = 12 HP
slug #2: 23-4 = 19 HP
slug #3: 19-4 = 15 HP
slug #4: 23-4 = 19 HP
slug #5: 16-4 = 12 HP

And it's safe to say that he is totally, thoroughly, dead.

Rix, Olivia, and Terra - you're up (in any order).

Terra slaps a Healing patch on herself :

Healing: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Bringing her up to 7 HP.

She hopes Rix heard her call for help, and will get here soon.

I'm working on my next post, but before I post, I'd like to know the result of Rix' last psionic healing attempt on the king. It hinged on whether or not the king was conscious at the time or not. If he was unconscious, Rix failed. If not, he was healed of 12 points. Either way Rix took 2 FP.

Edit: If the skill roll failed, then Rix lost 1d6 ⇒ 5 FP.

Sorry, that got lost in all the rolls! :) The King was conscious, and you healed him of 12 HP.

Did the retcon account for them seeing me raise and fire a gun while camouflaged? The first thing Aster did was activate his stealth systems and kneel.

Aster drops prone to brace his rifle as he swings it to the next target.

He'll aim for a moment then fire again.

Gauss Rifle, RoF 12, Acc 7+2, Dam 6d+2 (3)pi
Multispectral chameleon surface +8 stealth vision/infrared, +4 hyperspectral/ultraviolet, +2 high/low band hyperspectral

guns (rifle) default from guns (pistol) -2 @ 10 -1 armor, +9 Acc, +1 brace, +2 TN: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 2) = 11

by 10 less range penalties

slug #1: 6d6 + 2 ⇒ (2, 1, 6, 3, 2, 1) + 2 = 17
slug #2: 6d6 + 2 ⇒ (2, 6, 3, 5, 1, 2) + 2 = 21
slug #3: 6d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 5, 1, 1, 5, 1) + 2 = 21
slug #4: 6d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 5, 2, 2, 1, 5) + 2 = 20
slug #5: 6d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 6, 2, 4, 5, 1) + 2 = 21

Rix moves toward Terra. Her heart aches when she sees her wounds. Taking what cover she can she touches Terra and says, "Now you get to see what I can do. Hold still."

Rix concentrates and visualizes Terra's flesh whole and well again. Expending 2 more FP to heal 12.

Target 15
3d6 ⇒ (1, 3, 5) = 9

Seeing the wounds heal, Rix breaths a sigh of relief. "Time to blow this nowhere scene." She looks around for a way to safety.

Aster - I didn't understand that you were *activating* a Stealth mode from your description. Given that, I doubt you've been hit at all (I'll have to check the rules), so you're still up to full HP.
While kneeling is a Free Action, I would think that, considering that each round in GURPS is 1 second, that activating something would take a Ready action, in which case you're Aiming on this round and will fire your first set of shots on the next. There's no option that I know of for taking two actions in one round in GURPS.

So, in case anyone couldn't tell, I'm considering some massive changes to the combat system in Discussion. Once I've decided what those changes are, I'll announce them in Discussion and let everyone hash things out. Then I'll ret-con the changes, and update what's happened so far. So combat is temporarily on hold, but please keep checking in Discussion daily.

Ok, since so many things have changed, I'm starting the combat over from scratch.

With that, the ape-men fan out and begin advancing on the crowd. Several of the warriors, their honor impinged, charge forward, claws drawn. A burst of ray gun fire takes them down, including King Raoor, your host.

Seeing this, you all get to act first this round, before the ape-men consider you a threat.

The scene : there's a low (mid-thigh high) brick wall around the King's palace, about 4 hex away. The ape-men are an average of 10 hex away, for a Shooting penalty of -4 (all-around).

Please describe in detail what you're doing this first round. If you're aiming, please don't roll your skill roll or damage yet.

Olivia's eyes go wide as she sees that gunfire is about to begin. She runs for the brick wall and dives prone behind it, trying to get as much cover as she can.

As he sees his new allies being mowed down, Boomer jumps to action. "Crate, identify the leaders and key weaknesses!"

His combat computer ally analyzes the battlefield in an attempt to see if there are key combatants that Boomer could take down in order to significantly weaken the ape-men. Tactics-14 for Crate: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 5, 2) = 8.

Boomer, meanwhile, begins to take aim on the ape-man who shot down King Raoor. Fast Draw (Longarm)-14: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 2) = 9 After the fast draw, Boomer takes the Aim maneuver.

Aster activates the stealth systems on his suit, kneels, and aims at whichever has the biggest gun,or is closest.

Rix takes cover behind the low wall.

Terra also runs for cover behind the wall, but pokes her head up enough to look at one of the ape-men, and focuses her mental energy on him :

Boxing, TN=16: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 3) = 10

which does

Damage=STR=TK=20: 3d6 + 2 ⇒ (5, 1, 4) + 2 = 12

Aster, you made a Stealth roll before, do you need/want to do it again here?

Boomer, you spot the leader of the ape-men, by his fancier armor.

Boomer will take his Aim maneuver at the leader in fancy armor.

I'll keep the old roll.