Legend of the Sky Raiders session #2: Mustafa

I’m running Legend of the Sky Raiders for my regular group. Last time, I talked about our first session. This is session #2.

The Travellers

A quick reminder of our players and their characters:

Jon is playing ex-Scout Timo Sosak  8A9B84 Age 38.

Terry is playing Sir Sidderon Dubois 775ACC Age 34.

Thomas is playing Felix "Dusty" Pygrin 478CB7 Age 34.

Unfortunately, Jon can’t make it today. Luckily, Tom has joined the group (bringing some much-needed system mastery), and introduces his character, Mustafa Lama Doka.

With four players, I am happier 

Mustafa Lama Doka 586333 Age 38

Animals 0, Broker 2, Carouse 0, Electronics 0, Electronics (Remote Ops) 1, Engineer 0, Flyer (Rotor) 1, Gun Combat 0, Leadership 0, Melee 0, Steward 0

Aged before his time, Mustafa is a beaten-down refugee from the Zhodani Consulate. He has been sent to the re-education camps three times. Not necessarily at his own volition, he was part of a mass escape and ended up being people-smuggled out of Zhodani space. He washed up on Mirayn and has attached himself to the group, where he makes himself useful, haggling for prices and making apple tea.

(Adding a Zhodani is interesting. The Consulate is closer to Mirayn than the Third Imperium, so it makes sense that there are more Zhodani here than Imperials – not that Legend of the Sky Raiders makes anything of that.)

The fight

With Mustafa as part of the group, we restarted the game where we left off: a fight in a dark alley. We replaced Timo (Jon’s character) with Mustafa and carried on as if that was our original plan.

So, our three heroes (one of them armed with a stunner) up against four thugs (888666 with Melee 1 and knuckle dusters).

Initiative

Sir Sidderon has Tactics, and rolled 10 on his Tactics check, giving everyone +2 on their initiative rolls. This meant Sir Sidderon acted first, followed by Dusty, with Mustafa and the thugs acting at the same time. 

Two rounds later...

The fight lasts two combat rounds. Sir Sidderon takes out one thug while Dusty stuns two. The fourth flees, having failed a morale check. None of the thugs touched the Travellers – my rolls are terrible. 

Morale

Before this session, I looked through Mongoose 2e, swotting up on the combat system, and I thought I remembered something about morale checks. Nope, couldn't find it.

So I looked in The Traveller Book and, sure enough, I found this:

It always seems daft to me that enemies in ttrpgs often seem to fight to the death, so having a morale check makes sense. I'm not sure why Mongoose dropped it, but I decided to implement it for my game.

What seems odd is that the original rule appears to be aimed at the PCs - a “party of adventurers.” I kind of like this, but I know it takes agency away from the players, which is often frowned on. Anyway, I’m using it for the NPCs.

The shadowy Kalamanaru

With the fight over, the Travellers interrogate one of their assailants and learn that Bren Pylory hired them. Further investigation reveals that Pylory is one of Kalamanaru’s lieutenants. 

So why doesn’t Kalamanaru want the Travellers to venture into the Outback, the players wonder. Why indeed…

Finalising the expedition

The other half of the session was spent finalising the expedition. This was in two parts – the equipment and the route.

Expedition equipment

Between sessions I populated the group spreadsheet with the equipment and vehicles from the book. Rather than going for the huge expedition suggested in Legend of the Sky Raiders, the Travellers decided to keep the expedition small: the four PCs, Lorrain and her two companions, a guide and two drivers for the two hovercraft.

Let’s hope that’s enough.

Following the encounter with the thugs, they also armed themselves – including mounting a heavy machine gun on the back of one of the hovercraft.

Planning the route with Roll20

When it came to planning a route, I fired up Roll20 and invited them all to it.

The Travellers then planned a route to their first destination: a native village named Adalanayra. We will set off next time!

(I gather Tom likes Roll20 – he has added his character to it.)

Actions for next time

I need to:

• Read what happens next in Legend of the Skyraiders.
• Review the hexcrawl rules. How do encounters work?
• Create some stats for the hovercraft drivers.
• Remind myself about the natives.

Coming soon: A hexcrawl into the Outback

Previously: Session 1 or start this series with my review of Legend of the Sky Raiders.