Into the Void

Game Master Peet

Wint will just fly towards the other ship, using the Evade manuever

pilot: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

The starship moves and shifts constantly, only the artificial gravity keeping the crew from being thrown from their seats

Wint: I moved the ship. In future, do you want me to move the ship icon for you?

Wint flies the ship in a helix pattern to try and throw off enemy fire, while Dawn manages to get a target lock on the enemy ship, and fires a torpedo. The torpedo speeds towards the enemy ship, and is close to impact!

The enemy ship returns fire and a shot hits the forward shields. The ship rocks with the impact!

22 damage to your forward shields! Only 1 shield point left!

MAP UPDATED

Round 2

Engineer Phase 1
* Engineer Action:?
* Captain Action:? may delay to later phases
Helm Phase 1
* Initiative Roll:?
* Pilot Action:?
* Science Action:?
Gunnery Phase 1
* Attack Rolls:?

CALICO WANDERER:
Shields F: 1/23, P 22/22, S 22/22, A 23/23
Hull: 40/40

ENDLESS THRENODY:
Shields: Unknown
Hull: Unknown

FYI: your torpedo is still in flight but you don't need to make any more rolls for it.

SOME SUGGESTIONS:
* The Balance Science action (DC 13) allows you to shift shield points from one facing to another, or put all the shields at the same amount.
* The Divert Power to Shields Engineering action (DC 13) will recharge 6 shield points.

"Ninkasi, Bast, & Andraste!" Stell calls out as the ship shudders from the blast. "I'll get to the gyrolaser and see if we can end this before we get blasted again." Stell scrambles to the gun port, straps herself in, and starts punching buttons, bringing the laser to bear on the enemy.

Do we have a limited number of torpedoes or can we fire it every round without worrying about running out? The gyrolaser can fire to either side arc (at -2), so if we need to steer so they can't hit our front shields again, we won't be giving up that attack. We also have starboard and port guns, which Wint could shift to if need be. We must keep they from swinging around behind us, however.

Iolas runs toward a console in the engineering core. He goes to work, diverting some power from the galley and crew quarters to the front shields.

Engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

Wint: I moved the ship. In future, do you want me to move the ship icon for you?

No, I'll move it from now on. Sorry, wasn't sure which ship was which :-)

Waiting until after engineering phase before rolling initiative

Do we have a limited number of torpedoes or can we fire it every round without worrying about running out?

As Arvin told you back at the Station, you have seven torpedoes aboard.

Iolas successfully powers up the shields to forward.

Void GM wrote:

Wint: I moved the ship. In future, do you want me to move the ship icon for you?

Waiting until after engineering phase before rolling initiative

Enemy Initiative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Engineering phase is done. Go ahead. No way you can lose initiative there I think.

The enemy ship swerves to Starboard, trying to get away from the torpedo. It begins to fly a weaving pattern o avoid your fire.

Enemy Evade Action: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

Round 2

Engineer Phase 1
* Engineer Action: Divert To Shields (success)
* Captain Action: None.
Helm Phase 1
* Initiative Roll:?
* Pilot Action:?
* Science Action:?
Gunnery Phase 1
* Attack Rolls:?

CALICO WANDERER:
Shields F: 7/23, P 22/22, S 22/22, A 23/23
Hull: 40/40

ENDLESS THRENODY:
Shields: Unknown
Hull: Unknown

Are we allowed to look at your dice rolls for the other ship?

I'm also assuming that our speed is now 4, not 8

"Captain, I'm going to try and get out of their forward arc. That gun of theirs is scarily powerful"

Wint moves the ship a little to the side and again tries to dodge and weave a little
pilot: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

How does one change the colour of arrows?

"Let's put some shields between them an' us, eh?"

Balance Shields Action: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

New shield balance: F:21, P:22, S:22, A:9

Are we allowed to look at your dice rolls for the other ship?

Technically no, but if you did I don't see that it makes a lot of difference.

I'm also assuming that our speed is now 4, not 8

Yes, though any game mechanics that use the speed of the vessel for rolls still use the value of 8.

How does one change the colour of arrows?

If you are going to use shapes (which is how you did it), then the little bucket symbol is the fill color and the little pencil symbol is the color of the border. If you use lines (which is how I did it) there is just the little pencil.

Wint flies the ship in an evasive pattern while Thuldas redistributes shield energy.

The enemy ship fires on the Calico Wanderer, and hits! Its side battery does not seem very strong compared to its forward armament though.

Calico Wanderer takes 3 damage to forward shields.

The plasma torpedo strikes the enemy ship and bursts in a ball of incandescent gas! Bits of white material flake off the enemy hull!

Round 2

Engineer Phase 2
* Engineer Action: Divert To Shields (success)
* Captain Action: None.
Helm Phase 2
* Initiative Roll: Calico wins
* Pilot Action: Evade (success)
* Science Action: Balance (success)
Gunnery Phase 2
* Attack Rolls:?

CALICO WANDERER:
Shields F: 18/23, P 22/22, S 22/22, A 9/23
Hull: 40/40
Torpedoes Remaining: 6/7

ENDLESS THRENODY:
Shields: Unknown
Hull: Unknown (but has taken 10 damage so far)

Gunners (Dawn and Stell) are up! Range is nine hexes, and the enemy is in the forward arc.

Knowing Stell is a slightly better gunner, Dawn lets her handle the torpedo launcher as she switches to the gyrolaser. She takes aim at the Eoxian ship and fires!

Gunnery, Computer Bonus: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 2 + 1 = 12
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 2

Since the gyrolaser has short range, I believe our shot from here is at -4 penalty for range. We might need Wint at the gyrolaser for it to be effective until we get to close range (3 hexes).

Stell switches to the torpedo launcher and activates the computer aided aiming feature +1 to roll. She waits for the signal of a lock on the enemy and taps the fire button, saying a silent prayer for it to hit.

Gunnery, computer bonus: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 1 = 10

"Bazz Fazz!" Stell mutters as she sees the torpedoe tracking askew of target.

Dawn and Stell both fire their weapons, but neither shot hits the target.

Round 3

Engineer Phase 3
* Engineer Action:?
* Captain Action:?
Helm Phase 3
* Initiative Roll:?
* Pilot Action:?
* Science Action:?
Gunnery Phase 3
* Attack Rolls:?

CALICO WANDERER:
Shields F: 18/23, P 22/22, S 22/22, A 9/23
Hull: 40/40
Torpedoes Remaining: 5/7

ENDLESS THRENODY:
Shields: Unknown
Hull: Unknown (but has taken 10 damage so far)

Engineer (Iolas) and Captain (If Stell wants to go back there) are up!

Stell will stay at the guns unless someone wants her to switch roles.

Iolas reroutes some power from the holovid players into the weapons systems.

Engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

Using Divert on the weapons systems.

I think we've done the Engineering stuff, so pilot initiative phase
initiative: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19

Hey guys... busy weekend. New post up shortly.

Iolas reroutes more power to the weapons.

Round 3

Engineer Phase 3
* Engineer Action: Divert to Weapons (success)
* Captain Action: None.
Helm Phase 3
* Initiative Roll: Enemy wins initiative
* Pilot Action:?
* Science Action:?
Gunnery Phase 3
* Attack Rolls:?

CALICO WANDERER:
Shields F: 18/23, P 22/22, S 22/22, A 9/23
Hull: 40/40
Torpedoes Remaining: 5/7

ENDLESS THRENODY:
Shields: Unknown
Hull: Unknown (but has taken 10 damage so far)

Pilot (Wint) and Science (Thuldas) are up!

"Scanning! SCANNING!"

Thuldas frantacially spins dials and punches buttons to try and resolve some more information about the Endless Threnody.

Scan Action: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16 Okay, not terrible.

Wint will just pilot the ship forward a little rotating it towards the other ship

"Watch out, I think its going to hit us hard"

pilot to evade: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21

"Resuming scan," says the ship AI.

"The ship has modest defenses fitting a civilian vessel. I do not detect any deflector shields; the enemy shield projector seems to be inoperable. The main weapon is a heavy laser mounted forward."

SCAN REPORT

SHIP CLASS: HEAVY FREIGHTER
SIZE: LARGE
CREW COMPLIMENT: ERROR - NO LIFESIGNS DETECTED. ESTIMATED CREW 6-10.
SPEED RATING: 3
MANEUVERABILITY: AVERAGE
ARMOR: VARIED 3-6 m CALCIUM DURIDE LATTICE (RATING 11)
ECM: 620 MW ROTATING FREQUENCY INTERRUPTS (RATING 11)
SHIELD STRENGTH: NONE
HULL INTEGRITY: 90% (RATING 90)
POWER PLANT: UNKNOWN (OUTPUT RESEMBLES MODEL ARCUS ULTRA RATING 150)
PRIMARY WEAPON: HEAVY LASER IN FORWARD MOUNT

Wint flies the ship in an evasive pattern while Thuldas coaxes more data out of the scanners.

Wint: The flight path you marked had the first arrow moving forward but not actually leaving the starting hex. So you would have had one more movement forward unless you wanted to hold back. But I am assuming that you want to get close so you can fly rings around the enemy ship. So I adjusted your path one hex forward.

The enemy ship fires a searing laser bolt at the Calico Wanderer, but Wint Jinks aside at the last moment, and the beam narrowly misses.

Round 3

Engineer Phase 3
* Engineer Action: Divert to Weapons (success)
* Captain Action: None.
Helm Phase 3
* Initiative Roll: Enemy wins initiative
* Pilot Action: Evade (success)
* Science Action: Scan (two successes)
Gunnery Phase 3
* Attack Rolls:?

CALICO WANDERER:
Shields F: 18/23, P 22/22, S 22/22, A 9/23
Hull: 40/40
Torpedoes Remaining: 5/7

ENDLESS THRENODY:
Shields: None
Hull: 90/100

Gunners (Stell and Dawn) are up! The enemy is in your forward arc.

Dawn fires the gyrolaser again!

Gyroaser: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 2 + 1 = 18
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 2

Torpedo Gunnery, computer assist: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 1 = 5

Stell locks on the ship, grins and mutters, "Nice flying, Wint. Now to feed them something more ..."

As the torpedo flies away, Stell lays her face in her palm for a moment and lets out a string of curses. "Frzxin drxer bracken kshzxt."

"Forgot to arm the darn thing! So sorry!"

Dawn's shot trikes the enemy ship but the torpedo fails to lock on.

Guys, I'm thinking about trying a version of the turn order that might make things faster.
* Step 1: Initiative. GM determines initiative for both ships. Loser becomes "Ship A," winner becomes "Ship B."
* Step 2: Ship A Helm phase. Includes what was the Engineering phase. If ship A is the enemy ship then I move the ship now.
* Step 3: Ship B Helm Phase.
* Step 4: Ship B Gunnery Phase. If the enemy ship is ship B I can just do steps 3 and 4 all at once. Note that damage effects are resolved after shots from both sides are fired (so there's no advantage to shooting first).
* Step 5: Ship A Gunnery Phase.

We'll try this for a couple of rounds and see how it works.

Round 4

Initiative Phase: Calico Wanderer moves first
Ship A Helm Phase
* Captain Action:?
* Engineer Actions:?
* Pilot Action:?
* Science Actions:?
Ship B Helm Phase
Ship B Gunnery Phase
Ship A Gunnery Phase
* Attack Rolls:?

CALICO WANDERER:
Shields F: 18/23, P 22/22, S 22/22, A 9/23
Hull: 40/40
Torpedoes Remaining: 4/7

ENDLESS THRENODY:
Shields: None
Hull: 88/100

Everyone except Gunners are up!

"Let's see if we can squeeze a bit more info outta her, eh? Guidance, please perform another sweep!"

Scan Action: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

The usefulness of science officer is beginning to diminish. Thuldas will switch to engineer at the beginning of Round 5, I think.

Iolas reroutes some power to the front shields.

Engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

I can move to gunnery when Thuldas goes to engineering.

"Continuing scan," says the ship AI.

"Starboard and Port weaponry seems to be identical; each side has a light laser cannon mounted."

SCAN REPORT

SHIP CLASS: HEAVY FREIGHTER
SIZE: LARGE
CREW COMPLIMENT: ERROR - NO LIFESIGNS DETECTED. ESTIMATED CREW 6-10.
SPEED RATING: 3
MANEUVERABILITY: AVERAGE
ARMOR: VARIED 3-6 m CALCIUM DURIDE LATTICE (RATING 11)
ECM: 620 MW ROTATING FREQUENCY INTERRUPTS (RATING 11)
SHIELD STRENGTH: NONE
HULL INTEGRITY: 88% (RATING 88)
POWER PLANT: UNKNOWN (OUTPUT RESEMBLES MODEL ARCUS ULTRA RATING 150)
PRIMARY WEAPON: HEAVY LASER IN FORWARD MOUNT
SECONDARY WEAPONS: LIGHT LASER IN PORT AND STARBOARD MOUNT

Thuldas coaxes more information out of the scanners while Iolas boosts the ship's shields.

Round 4

Initiative Phase: Calico Wanderer moves first
Ship A Helm Phase
* Captain Action:?
* Engineer Actions: Divert to Shields
* Pilot Action:?
* Science Actions: Scan
Ship B Helm Phase
Ship B Gunnery Phase
Ship A Gunnery Phase
* Attack Rolls:?

CALICO WANDERER:
Shields F: 23/23, P 22/22, S 22/22, A 10/23
Hull: 40/40
Torpedoes Remaining: 4/7

ENDLESS THRENODY:
Shields: None
Hull: 88/100

Wint is up!

"Sorry Captain, there really doesn't seem to be much that I can do right now"

Wint will just try and evade right now. All the fancy flying isn't going to accomplish a darn thing :-(.

pilot: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14

"Just keep us pointing at it," Stell says. "If they don't have shields, we just need a few hits to disable it. When Iolas is coming to the guns, take the torpedoes and I'll return to the bridge and try to coordinate things to give us a better chance at hitting."

Assuming the enemy is still in the forward arc, Stell will loose one more torpedo at it.

"Com'on Stell, your father taught you how to do this. Just focus."

Gunnery, computer aided: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 3 + 1 = 16

"Go get those buggers!" Stell tells the torpedo as she watches the blip head away toward the enemy.

Damage: 3d8 ⇒ (1, 1, 6) = 8

"Sorry Captain, there really doesn't seem to be much that I can do right now"

Wint will just try and evade right now. All the fancy flying isn't going to accomplish a darn thing :-(.

pilot: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14

Wint flies the ship in an evasive pattern. (success)

Wint: don't forget to move the ship token. If you aren't able to move the token for some reason, let us know how you want to move and we'll do it for you.

Dawn unleashes another laser blast.

Gunnery: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 2 + 1 = 15
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 3

[

Wint: don't forget to move the ship token. If you aren't able to move the token for some reason, let us know how you want to move and we'll do it for you.

Wint just flew the ship in place (which I think is totally legal). As far as I could see, there was absolutely no gain in moving it from where it was.

I'm a little surprised by that. Since you are in front of the enemy it would make sense to try to get to one side of it. Also the closer you are to it the easier it will be to get behind it in future rounds.

But you can stay in place if that's what you want.

Thuldas detects that the enemy ship is firing its maneuvering thrusters in reverse, but while this allows the ship to come to a dead stop, it fails to reverse direction, which is probably the intent.

The enemy's main weapon fires, and the Calico Wanderer's shields hold... but only barely!

Dawn and Stell return fire... and both the torpedo and the laser blast hit! The hits set off explosions in the forward section of the enemy!

You've scored a crit, but you would need to scan to be able to tell what the crit was.

Round 4

The enemy ship continues to fire its thrusters in reverse, and manages to creep backward, away from the Wanderer.[/ooc]

Initiative Phase: Calico Wanderer moves second.
Ship A Helm Phase (enemy backs off)
Ship B Helm Phase
* Captain Action:?
* Engineer Actions:?
* Pilot Action:?
* Science Actions:?
Ship B Gunnery Phase
* Attack Rolls:?
Ship A Gunnery Phase

CALICO WANDERER:
Shields F: 1/23, P 22/22, S 22/22, A 10/23
Hull: 40/40
Torpedoes Remaining: 3/7

ENDLESS THRENODY:
Shields: None
Hull: 77/100

Everyone is up! You won initiative this time so the enemy has moved already. Wint should be able to keep the enemy in the forward facing if you guys want so you can assume that once again the forward weapons can fire (unless you want to do something different).

Stell is ready to move to the captains role or replace someone in science if a better gunner wants to make the kill shot. Otherwise, Stell will stay where she is. If we don't need someone at the science officer position, Stell can use the encourage action to try to boost the chance of success for someone in gunnery.

Thuldas runs (more of a trundle, really) from the science officer's console to engineering. Slapping Iolas on the shoulder, he yells, "Tag out! Go find a tooty-shooty and blast 'em. I'll keep us flyin'!"

The dwarf, looking much too gleeful, does a quick scan of the readouts. Seeing the sad state of the forward shields, he touches a wiring bundle feeding power to the water filters and points with his other hand at a power coupling, shooting an arcane burst of electricity across the room.

Divert Action (forward shields): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Unfortunately, he's too excited and lets off the power prematurely, blasting a light fixture clean out of its socket.

"Err, forward shields are down. We may wish t' show 'em our flank! Unless you like tastin' the void o' space, that is..."

Gunnery: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 1 = 6

The sparking light fixture distracts Dawn, throwing off her aim. She fires a laser blast into the inky darkness of space.

"Don't worry, we can use our forward guns and I'll make sure we're out of ITS forward arc"

pilot: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14

Wint flies the ship in a wild corkscrew pattern, ending up with the enemy vessel in the Calicos forward arc but NOT in the Threnody's forward arc.

which guns are people on?

I am on the gyrolaser and Stell is on the torpedoes.

Iolas nods at Thuldas and makes his way to the starboard laser cannon.

Stell intercepts Iolas and directs him to the Port laser cannon, since Wint has piloted us to that the enemy ship is in our forward and port weapon arcs.

Am I committed to switching to the Captain role this round? I said I would if Iolas came to occupy a gunnery port. If we have some flexibility, given the slightly chaotic order in which we post, Stell would remain at the torpedo gun port and fire again.

The torpedo does the most damage, so our best gunner (Iolas) ought to be at the torpedo port. Stell can move to the port laser cannon or to the captain chair and attempt to aid the attack of Iolas.

Iolas nods and runs to the laser cannon. He then takes a shot at the Endless Threnody.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 3 + 1 = 24
Damage: 2d4 ⇒ (4, 2) = 6

"Nice shot Iolas. That should hurt them" Wint squeals in joy when seeing the hit cause one of the enemies systems to suddenly flare up as it takes a direct hit