Five Parsecs from Home: The Millennium Chicken - Introduction

 I persuaded Number 1 son to give Five Parsecs from Home a try.  He's seen me and Number 2 son playing and I wanted him to have a go.  He's extremely story literate, and his teacher once mentioned that when discussing the class book they'd been reading, he was the only one who correctly predicted what would happen.  I'm interested to see how he links everything together and creates a story.  Once the crew had been rolled up, we had a look through my figures to see who fitted the descriptions.  A few extras had to be hastily assembled and/or painted ready for the first battle!

 Our adventure starts on the planet Coldwater, but more on that another day.  For now, let's meet the crew of the Millennium Chicken:

 

The Millennium Chicken's crew

Nagrican male James Bond

Nagrican male James Bond

Captain of the Millennium Chicken and a former bureaucrat who is also something of a scoundrel.  His thirst for power has led to him making enemies - the most troublesome and persistent of whom are a salvage crew (Rival).  It's not surprising really, given that he used his contacts to arrange the repossession of their starship, after which he promptly bought it himself at a knock-down price.  He had some money put aside, but after purchasing the ship and an assault bot, he can only contribute a single extra credit for the crew.  He has adopted the somewhat unlikely-sounding name James Bond, perhaps in an attempt to conceal his true identity?

XP 2; Reactions 1; Speed 5"; Combat +0; Toughness 4; Savvy +0;

 

Combat Droid Destructionator

Assault Bot Destructionator

 A hexapod combat robot, though with its original built-in weapons removed.  Suffers no penalties for carrying clumsy or heavy weapons.  Destructionator was purchased as military surplus by James Bond to provide some extra muscle when needed.  Although outdated now, and replaced by newer models, Destructionator is still a force to be reckoned with - or will be, once it has a new weapon installed. (Painted in a rushed 10-minute rusty colour scheme for the first game!)

Reactions 2; Speed 4"; Combat +1; Toughness 4; Savvy +0; Armour 5+ save

 

 Human male Blaze Westerley

Human male Blaze Westerley.

 A lower class megacitizen.  He seeks The Truth, and through his activities as a hacker, has obtained a datafile containing important information (rumour).  This has come at a cost - his hacking activities mean that a squad of Commonwealth troops is after him (Rival). Fortunately he has, through somewhat dubious means, obtained a colony rifle to protect himself.  ("Here, this one looks like a colony rifle, this can be him!")

XP 0; Reactions 1; Speed 4"; Combat +0; Toughness 3; Savvy +1;

  

Bot Lifter

Bot Lifter

  A former cargo handling robot, originally used to organise freight in the Millennium Chicken but now co-opted into the crew to fight with them when required.

Reactions 2; Speed 4"; Combat +1; Toughness 4; Savvy +2;

  

Nagrican male Frost

Nagrican male Frost

Military brat whose rejection of authority and refusal to conform has earned him the enmity of some local vigilantes (Rival).  In a somewhat contradictory way, Frost's personal faith is very strong, and someone from his local worship group has provided him with a notebook (rumour).

XP 2; Reactions 1; Speed 4"; Combat +1; Toughness 4; Savvy +0;

  

Human female Flame (rolls die... "Another male.  No, I think we need to have a least ONE female!" he muttered.)

Human female Flame.

 Flame desires revenge on Nagrican outlaws (Rival) who killed the other members of her ship-borne isolationist enclave.  She was knocked unconscious during the attack and left for dead.  She has a notebook and a tip given to her by a couple of members of the enclave before they died (2 rumours).  Trying to scavenge what she can on her quest for revenge, she has obtained an additional data file (rumour).  Because the Nagrican outlaws are still after her, she has armed herself with a beam pistol in the assumption that things could end in a shoot-out.

XP 2; Reactions 1; Speed 4"; Combat +0; Toughness 3; Savvy +0;

 

The crew have come together to support Flame's mission of revenge against the Nagrican Outlaws.  They are defenders of the downtrodden. 

 

 The crew have 7 credits between them.  The armoury includes 2 colony rifles, 1 military rifle, 1 autorifle, 1 shotgun, 1 blast pistol, 1 beam pistol, 1 scrap pistol, 1 concealed blade.  They also have a nerve adjuster available.

 

Their ship is the former Diplomatic Vessel Millennium Chicken

16 Credits Debt

25 Hull points

James Bond obtained the ship through a very expensive corporate loan (+2 interest/turn up to 30 credits debt, +1D6 credits per turn 31+ credits debt), with aggressive enforcement (if debt reaches 55 credits, roll on enforcement table).  This was presumably why the ship ended up getting repossessed from the salvage crew, though James Bond's "encouragement" through his contacts will have sealed the enforcement action.