So "Cash and Curry" will be loosely based on the Zone Ravens 5 part mission found in the Kontraband expansion, tweaked to fit my world and the crew.
Kontraband works around solo rules where wounds are not only potentially lethal but also reduce efficiency and ability as the characters are weakened. There's also a requirement to live off the land and the 4 man crew will need to find the following every day of the mission: 2 Rations, 2 Water, 1 Ammo and 1 Lithium battery - failures to find any of these will see certain abilities reduced.
There's lots more to the solo expansion than this, I reckon anyone who liked Zona Alfa will love the solo rules. I ended up playing for over 3 hours trying to get the rules right, although there are a few that I missed.
Those 3 hours flew by.In order to start with the recommended skills mix Del selected Himself, Rodders, Trig and Marlene with the others heading off for adventures which will be reported on at a later date.
Del wants this run into the Zone to go by the numbers, no heroics, no cockups.
In order to give the best chance of success there's a lot to be done in the outer reaches of their target area.
They need to clear all POI's of hostiles, gather enough resources and expend 2 actions to repair the communications equipment in the APC.
“Cash and Curry”Soon after resettling their home base Trotter Watch are approached by a shady figure, Mr Ram, who offers them a great price for a dozen Artefacts – significantly more than they are really worth; he’ll even accept items that have lost their properties.
Delboy is a little suspicious, but a business acquaintance has confirmed Ram is genuine and Marek has given his blessing, subject to his 10% cut of course.
Raquel, Boycie, Cassie and Denzil are away on a job so this one is down to him, Rodney, Trigger and Marlene, who’s got a new Flamethrower to play with.
He tells of a smuggler’s ship, The Lovely Jubbly, frozen along a fault line, Artifacts galore, and he knows (roughly) where to find it.
Part One: Radio TimesDelboy is keen to maintain communications throughout the search for the ship and knows of an old military station which contained an APC with comms. The rumour is that it stopped working a few months back after a Thatcher attack but it needs very little to get it up and running again.
His plan is to move in, clear the area and minimise the risk of it going down again.
As they’re going to be in the Zone for a few days they will need to resupply whilst in there; as a minimum they’ll need ammo supplies, rations, water and some batteries to keep the equipment functioning.
Mission parameters for this first day are to clear the area of all hostiles (check all 9 Points Of Interest)), Repair the radio in the APC, collect 2 rations, 2 water, 1 Ammo and 1 Lithium Battery.
Mission reports are, as before, broken into 10 minute segments.
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markndebs, on Flickr
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markndebs, on Flickr
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markndebs, on Flickr
First 10 minutes – Rodney and Marlene go on Alert (Over Watch) whilst Delboy moves to a nearby Point of Interest (POI) where he finds a damaged container requiring a repair to access. After passing his skill check and opening the box he finds it’s loaded with ammunition which he gratefully slips into his backpack.
Trigger spots a container a little further into the Zone; it’s not only the next nearest POI but a great place for him to set up to snipe the rest of the field. He rushes forward but, on arrival, finds it’s booby trapped – bugger.
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markndebs, on Flickr
Trigger passes his reaction roll and moves back very carefully to behind a barrier – he’s really not keen on having a go at defusing that.
Rodney discards his alert status and uses his single action to move up near Del whilst Marlene also spends her only action to toss a bolt towards the anomaly closest to the team. The bolt accelerates as it approaches the item and finally sticks to it – a gravity anomaly; that could prove painful to anyone caught in it’s field.
20 Minutes in – No Zone Event occurs.
Marlene moves towards the gravity anomaly, passes her interaction check, searches it and finds a bracelet like artifact which she takes before moving away to safety.
Trigger moves to the disabled Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), finding that not only does it contain the radio equipment they need to repair but is also covered in Spitters and Spores – nasty.
He reacts quickly enough to hold his breath and not get affected then proceeds to search the APC – 2 Rations.
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markndebs, on Flickr
Delboy uses 2 actions to move to the booby trapped container and makes a successful attempt at defusing it. Rodney joins Del and searches it, finding a sealed bottle of water.
30 Minutes – No Zone Event.
Rodney makes a second search (Scrounger) and locates a Med Kit then presses forward to a pile of strange looking containers. As he approaches them his Geiger Counter screams – he fails to react quickly enough and is forced to rely on his stamina to get through, taking a pin. Searching reveals a Detector and an unused Lithium battery.
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markndebs, on Flickr
Marlene uses 2 actions to move to the APC, passes a reaction roll to avoid the spores, uses her stamina dice to allow her to repair the radio equipment and takes a pin. Her final action is to move away.
Trigger starts to move away from the spore ridden APC but manages to suck in a number of spores causing 1 wound and reducing his overall effectiveness. He climbs onto the roof of the nearby hut to provide a field of cover to his colleagues.
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markndebs, on Flickr
Del moves into the compound and prepares to do his stuff.
40 Minutes from insertion – Still no Zone Event.
Rodney attempts to move away from the radioactive containers, doing so by passing his reaction check and sprinting towards the large red container at the rear of the compound, shrugging off his pinned status as he does so.
Marlene rallies to remove her pin then goes onto Alert as Del moves to the centrally placed POI, finding more Spores and Spitters which he reacts to successfully, moving out of harms way towards the South Western corner of the compound, tossing a bolt at an Anomaly – a Blaster – could be painful.
Trigger drops from the roof of the hut and enters, ready to unleash hell but all he finds is a Witches Brew, a drum of caustic gunge (‘what sort of gunge?’ he imagines Denzil saying). He fails his reaction check and suffers a point of armour damage then staggers back outside.
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markndebs, on Flickr
Looks like Marlene went on Alert for nothing as both boys only found environmental hazards.
50 Minutes – No Zone Event – again.
Rodney moves to the red container and discovers it’s occupied – by Uncle Albert!! He lets Rodney know what the nearest 2 unsearched POI’s contain; one is The Hum and the other is Thatchers.
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markndebs, on Flickr
That’s all 9 POI’s identified so mission nearly accomplished except for clearing out the Thatchers.
The crew know they need to get a move on as the chances of a potentially disastrous Zone Event so choose to ignore searching The Hum and Del heads for the Thatcher’s location while Marlene goes on Alert again.
As he arrives the Thatcher’s erupt from the trailer and launch towards Marlene who uses her flamethrower to devastating effect, frying them both instantly.
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markndebs, on Flickr
Delboy throws caution to the wind, rolls all three stamina dice and gets three more actions, finding 2 Rations on the cart, tossing a bolt at the anomaly that is in view near the trailer and finds it’s another gravity anomaly.
Trigger starts towards the Gravity Anomaly in the compound, reacts to avoid being pulled in and smashed against it, reaches into the strange effect and pulls out a strange disc which allows those equipped to ignore pins but has negative effects to boot.
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markndebs, on Flickr
On the Hour – Del decides to push their luck just that little bit further and again there’s No Zone Event.
Delboy rallies, moves to the Blast Anomaly and is thrust backwards, taking a Pin, Marlene also tries and suffers the same. Trigger and Rodney are too far away to be of use and Del makes the call to get out of there.
The final tally is all objectives completed with a Detector, a Med Kit, 4 Rations, 2 Water, 1 Ammo and 1 Lithium Battery found as well as 2 Artefacts.
Got really lucky with no Zone Events and mainly environmental hazards rather than hostiles and, in retrospect, it might have been wise to stick around to get the last artefact but hey ho.
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January 15, 2012, 07:01:58 PM
