What is this?
A dumb skirmish game with some roleplaying thrown in. You are squaddies, mutant freaks burning a trail across a shattered, dying world. You might be heroes, but more likely you’re a wildfire with a life expectancy of sweet F A. With death on your heels, the question you have to answer is:
What glory will you be remembered by?How do we play?
I set a scene, you make a choice. Ask as many questions as you like, and I’ll answer honestly within the limitations of your character’s scope. Always ask: What can I see? How does that work? Have I used something like this before? What is that? Where is my leg?
For our purposes, feel free to throw a question at the end of every post when you’re not in combat.
Besides the conversational nature of the game, we’ll often be rolling two regular dice and adding a +1 or whatever. In this game you’ve got to get a result equal to or above the difficulty rating (DR) I set to succeed. However, there are no single “skill checks”. Instead challenges are done by the whole squad, so you’ll often be faced with partial successes or succeed with trouble coming. If you try to do something alone there will always be things you don’t have enough hands to do in time.
Kiu-Re stomps into the bazaar, looking for gruel. He wants to haggle with the merchant, but alone he’ll never be intimidating enough to get the lowest price. Besides that, with no one watching his back his pockets will no doubt be lighter by the time he’s got what he’s looking for. If he had someone else with him they’d know he was part of a squad… but right now there’s no flag, and no flag means the slavers might just start eying him up…
Combat is turn based, and though it’s not a copy, if you’ve played XCOM or similar tactical games you know how it goes. The main draw of WRECKAGE, I think, is the freedom of your action: You can take two actions on your turn, and every thing you can think of counts as 1 action. Meaning you can shoot two enemies in one turn, or move and attack, attack and move, or eat a slab of meat and open a door. You never have to worry if something is “bonus action” or “uses up both actions”—no, there are two actions per turn. That’s it.
Is that it?
Um… no. We’re gonna have to go piece by piece until we’re ready to play. But it’s not that much! In addition, once we get going I’ll end all my posts with sections from the rules, so you’ll have it right in front of you all the time.
What the pitch?
You are a squad. Well, you are perhaps what
remains of a squad. You’ve been run into Kur Abandon, the ass end of the world. With no turning back you’ll have to cut your own path across a wasteland where even the laws of physics are breaking down. A settlement is a fortress. The weather wants you dead. Beasts and metal-heads are looking for enough food and gear to survive another day. Seems bleak…
But you are chaos, you are change, and every step you take creates ripples across the stagnation of Kur Abandon. No where will be the same by the time the bullets settle and your shadows crawl across the horizon after you.
Posts
Hello and welcome! This is the pitch session. Ask whatever you like! Have a general chat. This session will last a couple days I reckon.
Before you jump into making characters (which I will explain in full in the next post), together, make your squad’s flag.
If you don’t have an art app, just explain what you want and I’ll doodle it in. Making a big block of colour is valid, it’s your flag.
Leave your backstory vague. Do a general thing like “I’m the smartest here.” or “I blame myself for getting run into Kur Abandon, and so I must become stronger!”
Describe yourself. Get weird. You’re not the ‘playable races’, you’re the monsters.
Steal a name.
Or let a fellow squaddie name you; they can pick anything. You can even do this after you’ve rolled, to make it more of a nickname you go by.
Set your stats and blood—that’s HP, but it sounds metal.
Your DR (dodge rating in this case) is 7.
Lastly, roll for what’s gripped between your hands.
1. Axe.
2. Hunk.
3. Maul.
4. Pistol.
5. Spear.
6. Two axes.
Try to match what you’re going for with your stats.
Oh, plus, you’ll never be left behind. It’d be nice if you can post once or twice a day, but don’t sweat it. During combat I’m going to try to schedule it once I have an idea what time zone would work, but I still expect it to go on for a few days. If I wanted to rush I would have picked a method other than Play by Post.
I forgot how to roll, let's see if just saying it works
Geth roll 1d6
Geth roll 1d6
Geth roll 6d6
Geth roll 2d6
Geth roll 6d6
Puddle of sludge, prismatic oily sheen, come to "life". Sometimes humanoid, sometimes just four legs with no body, sometimes just a blob. Picked up a pistol, and now I'm here.
2, 1, 0, -1 for my stats, 3 blood
In your hand (when it is a hand) is a pistol.
Ranged weapon.
Damage: 1
Range: 5
Reload: 3
Grip: one handed
Special: it isn’t
In this game you have to use an action on your turn to reload a ranged weapon after a number of shots. You don’t run out of ammo. No one runs out of ammo.
Geth, roll 6d6 for Name 1b
Geth, roll 1d6 for Name 2a
Geth, roll 6d6 for Name 2b
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Aw, pistol friends.
Reveal unto the WRECKAGE your terrible visage!
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Geth roll 6d6 for first name result
Geth roll 1d6 for second name column
Geth roll 6d6 for second name result
Geth roll 2d6 for blood
Geth roll 1d6 for weapon (roll a 6, coward)
e: Geth, goddammit
G: -1; V: +0; F: +1; B: +2
2/8 Blood
A Friendly Overseer's Head
Table Leg
Damage: 1
Grip: one handed
Special:
Feeding this Fauxile fragment 1 goo will have it inflict +1 damage on its next successful hit. Good to do before combat, it’ll require 1 action to feed it in combat.
Assorted Junk
For our flag, I like the Predator blood idea. Here's a stab at it ... along with my idea for the top of the flag: an arrow pointing up (because we're ultimately hopeful) but done in fresh and dried blood colors:
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Also I think it should be tattered. Should flags be tattered? I feel like it should be frayed or tattered.
Name: Pa'ew
Blood: 9
DR: 7
Brutal -1, Fierce 2, Volatile 1, Grave 0
Weapons: An Axe. Just the one.
Gear: I already told you, I only have the one axe. Well and a helmet. And this, like, kinda breastplate? thing? uhhh, yeah I'm wearing pants! Oh and maybe a flag. I'unno.
Advances from a class: oh I'm classy as sand
Titles: your mom
Pa'ew is just a normal looking orc. Nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever, especially not under his helmet. Nope, no reason to look under there at all. I mean, what? You think he's got a leopard's head or something? Just cuz his clay-brown skin is riddled with rings and rosettes in pitch black? Those are just birth marks. And sure he's kinda weirdly gaunt for his height. He ... runs a lot? No, of course that's not animal fur around his mouth; it's just a beard. And those haunting, empty blue eyes mean nothing.
Normal orc.
Ooo an axe! That’s one off two axes!
Melee weapon.
Damage: 1
Naturally, you’ve got to be adjacent to your target if you wanna try chopping them.
Grip: one handed
Special: Inflicts bleed on bare skinned enemies.
A bleeding enemy takes 1 damage when they move, then they lose the condition. Bleed stacks on multiple hits.
—
Tattered sounds about right for where you’re at!
Welcome Pa’ew! Most normal of squaddies!
As you have claimed it at this early stage, yeah, you’re the flag bearer. It’s strapped to your back samurai style!
As flag bearer you show the world that the squad exists! You have +2 blood, -1 DR. The lower dodge is from the flag being unwieldy and everyone wanting you dead. More dead than usual.
Would it be acceptable to type out your guy as Awoo @Darmak ?
Any snags, nows the time to ask. I reckon I’ll make my big intro post this evening, and we’ll kick things off.
Got three hours until I’m off work, so put your stats how you like.
Which standard? :rotate:
Yes
Happy birthday, potential friend!
Geth roll 1d6 for first name column
Geth roll 6d6 for first name result
Geth roll 1d6 for second name column
Geth roll 6d6 for second name result
Geth roll 2d6 for blood
Geth roll 1d6 for weapon
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
DAY 1
You don’t know whether Kur was a general or a bunch of gunners, but this land has long been Kur Abandon—the place where Kur got blasted into the dirt as the world began to fall apart. There are some broken statues and relay towers half sunk into the mud, but for the most part nothing from that time remains.
—
The squad has been run into this shattered land by a far larger, better equipped force after a terrible and sudden betrayal. No one in there right mind would head into Kur Abandon—it’s a death sentence… yet, you live. One day, if the squad (though certainly not all of you) survives long enough to absorb some of that ambient chaos, that world ending destruction… maybe you’ll look back beyond the heat haze, that invisible but tangible border and seek your revenge.
The wind whips around your shoulders, but for once there’s no biting sand carried on it. Beneath your boots is mud, knee deep, sucking, red clay and black rot. There’s fog on your tail, shrouding your passing, but it won’t last long.
To the north, twenty miles away across the slick dirt and jutting rock is a twister. Nothing major, not the biggest you’ve seen. It’s heading north-west for now, kicking up rusted metal and unfortunate rag-doll silhouettes. To the south, a vast shadow is draped over the landscape, on the move inch by inch, while the land itself crumbles away, falling away like moss between thumb and finger. Eastward is your only path for now, but even escape involves ultra-violent combat. That’s what it means to be a squaddie.
There are six metal heads hanging out down a slope of muck, old machines hungry for scrap and following unknowable orders. One is picking up lumps of mud and then letting it drop, patting it smooth with a rusty limb. They haven’t noticed you, for now.
What do you do?
Orange = Low ground.
[x] = Cover. Use the duck action adjacent to it to increase your DR by 2 from ranged attacks.
[v] = A catapult. As with all things, 1 action to use. But what do you even have to use as ammo?
A1-6 = Metal Heads. Cannon fodder, grunts, target practise.
Hopefully you can tell where you’re at. You guys are full hex sized with simplistic faces drawn on.
The common metal head in its natural habitat—wandering around in the middle of nowhere without a thought in their hollow, rusted frames.
—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjF1rmSV1dM&list=PL0CG916Pzn-8OM2TiV3bhtK7KCSKqjOa6&index=2
—
OOC:
Here’s your host!
This is me speaking out of character, as this game’s host. If you see red writing, I’m cutting into the narration with some game mechanic stuff.
Session one has begun, you’re in-character as your squaddie. You’re catching your breath, muddy, lost, and you can see some robots meandering in circles ahead. They’re in your way.
You won’t be attacked by them, so feel free to get to grips with things first. You’re simply not in their line of sight.
"I swear, you see a fellar diggin' what is obviously a latrine, you oughta figger they might be a while and start hikin' a little slower for their benefit, but nooooo."
Stats: B2 F1 V0 G-1
Blood: 6
DR: 7
Weapon: 5 - Spear
Is Myo alive? It's hard to tell, under the armor. "Armor" is a strong word for it... "paneling" might be better, because it's obviously worthless as a defensive measure. The bit up top probably started as a helmet from somewhere, but none of the arms and legs match, and when the wind blows even moderately strongly the whole setup rattles and groans like a saxophone stuck in a clothes dryer. It drags a rusty length of metal along behind itself.
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
That sounded like a man gargling gravel
Myo survived! For now they’ve got no role in the squad (there is only ever three to go round) so they’re next in line for point.
So, how are you going to face these bozos? You can get a shot off before combat proper starts if you want, or head for that tasty cover. Your movement isn’t counted before combat starts, it’s freeform.
Or would you rather ask some questions? See, it’s easy, I just did one.
Don’t feel constrained, you tell me your plans and I’ll explain things as and when rules turn up.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Geon-Zo! Who saved your ass during the great betrayal, and who here do you feel you let down?
I like to imagine they sound like an autotuned 90’s RnB singer.
Myo is, despite the current claptrap appearance of his armor and weapons, one hell of a tough customer. Geon-Zo found itself pinned down by a winged beast during ... the time before ... and was hard pressed to keep the feathered thing's metal-edged beak away from it's vitals. While Geon-Zo was struggling, Myo leapt onto the beast's back and ran it through the back of the head with a far better weapon than Myo is using now. It wasn't the first time Myo had saved a squaddie's life; probably wouldn't be the last.
*Awoo* Dor is much less than it used to be (only 3 Blood!). During one of the squad's running battles, *Awoo* was injured / separated / splashed, and Geon-Zo tuned out his need for help to focus on it's own revenge against the foe. When it came back to itself, Geon-Zo left (was forced to leave?) much of *Awoo* behind. Geon-Zo is not sure how much, if any, *Awoo* recalls of this.
How crumbly are the cliffs we're on? Likely to wash away in the storm that's coming?
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
In combat, you can move up to 3 hexes (twice in a row if you’re using both your actions). It’ll be no extra effort to get down, but getting back would be move + traverse.
If you wanna shoot some, roll 2d6 + 2 for the advantage of surprise and height.
Those with ranged weapons can commit one ranged attack before combat starts and initiative is rolled.
Before those shots pop off though, you can move freely, so tell me where you’re starting this fight. The robots can’t see very far at all.
To lose is to have gained a thing of value, and Pa'ew values nothing beyond himself and his squad.
And yes, Pa'ew has lost his squad. Many, many times. But such is the way of things, for to gain is also to prepare to lose.
Here in this wretched lands, among these wretched beings, there is hope only for a meal and a place to rest; to find either more enjoyable than a slow death is great joy