adrianplanet
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Chariot Of The Gods changes summary

Thu 18 Jul 2019, 13:24

Just a quick summary of the changes I made to the scenario included with the Cinematic Starter Kit—hopefully this will be of use to those of you who have yet to run it.

I removed Lucas, and changed Cham's last personal agenda to 'You’ve seen what these monsters can do—they are a threat not just to your family, but to the human race as well. You must stop Weyland-Yutani from reacquiring the USCSS Cronus and everything it contains, by any means necessary.'—bringing him into opposition with Wilson and Clayton.

I indicated that the key cards carried by Wilson and Clayton to be the only way to access their ships' respective MU/TH/UR.

I neglected to destroy the USCSS Montero as I felt this was both a 'video game invisible wall' (to quote a player) and needlessly punishing.

I abandoned the flaw in the vaccine (and thus the Abominations). I also reduced the number of available vaccines from six to four, forcing my five players to make an uncomfortable choice.

It seemed ridiculous that it would take 20–40 minutes and a spacewalk to repair the comm array, 15–30 minutes and a spacewalk to repair the engines, but 5–10 hours to clean the air scrubbers—I changed all three to require one Shift instead.

I added a second Adult Neomorph.

I hinted at but didn't introduce the Sotillo.


The xenomorphs desperately need to be given values for their attributes as well as their skills—particularly Strength. One player managed to catch a Neomorph as it walked through a sliding door, allowing another player to grapple its tail. In both cases I rolled ten dice because I know how mobile and observant, but not how strong, a Neomorph is.

The sliding door example above also forced me to invent the 'delayed action', based off Overwatch—'A player can spend a fast action to set a trigger. If that trigger occurs before the player's next turn to act, the player may immediately spend a fast or slow action.'

With these changes it took our group of six (including me as Game Mother) three three-hour sessions to finish leaving just Miller alive onboard the USCSS Montero, drifting towards an unknown fate.
 
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CynicalMo
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Re: Chariot Of The Gods changes summary

Thu 18 Jul 2019, 18:35

The xenomorphs desperately need to be given values for their attributes as well as their skills—particularly Strength. One player managed to catch a Neomorph as it walked through a sliding door, allowing another player to grapple its tail. In both cases I rolled ten dice because I know how mobile and observant, but not how strong, a Neomorph is.
This is same issue I ran into with trying to make decisions on what exactly they were capable of.
 
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The1TrueFredrix
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Re: Chariot Of The Gods changes summary

Thu 18 Jul 2019, 18:41

I must admit that I would, in a similar situation, assume strength is equal to health
Effekt - A fan podcast celebrating Swedish RPGs including, but not limited to: Alien; Coriolis; Forbidden Lands; Symbaroum; and Tales from the Loop. Featuring discussion magazine episodes and Actual Play recordings. https://effektpodcast.org/
 
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aramis
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Re: Chariot Of The Gods changes summary

Thu 18 Jul 2019, 22:39

Note that destroying the Montero is only needed if the players refuse to rescue to Chronus. 

Mine were hesitant. And while it is a form of gating the adventure, destroying the Montero, if it drives players into the adventure, isn't a bad thing
—————————————————————————
Smith & Wesson: the original point and click interface...
 
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CynicalMo
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Re: Chariot Of The Gods changes summary

Thu 18 Jul 2019, 22:51

I must admit that I would, in a similar situation, assume strength is equal to health
I'm an idiot.   :shock:

Not sure why I never thought of this while it's mentioned for PC characters multiple times.

:lol:
 
adrianplanet
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Re: Chariot Of The Gods changes summary

Sat 20 Jul 2019, 02:54

I must admit that I would, in a similar situation, assume strength is equal to health
Oh, duh! I didn't even think of that. It still doesn't give a value for Close Combat, but it's something.
 
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The1TrueFredrix
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Re: Chariot Of The Gods changes summary

Sat 20 Jul 2019, 07:35

I must admit that I would, in a similar situation, assume strength is equal to health
Oh, duh! I didn't even think of that. It still doesn't give a value for Close Combat, but it's something.
So that you know what to roll to resist when a PC attempts a grapple? I don’t think it’s at all possible for a PC to grapple a Xeno. 
Effekt - A fan podcast celebrating Swedish RPGs including, but not limited to: Alien; Coriolis; Forbidden Lands; Symbaroum; and Tales from the Loop. Featuring discussion magazine episodes and Actual Play recordings. https://effektpodcast.org/
 
adrianplanet
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Re: Chariot Of The Gods changes summary

Sat 20 Jul 2019, 16:12

I must admit that I would, in a similar situation, assume strength is equal to health
Oh, duh! I didn't even think of that. It still doesn't give a value for Close Combat, but it's something.
So that you know what to roll to resist when a PC attempts a grapple? I don’t think it’s at all possible for a PC to grapple a Xeno. 
You are correct as per the Cinematic Starter Kit, page 58:
You pin your enemy in a tight clinch. See Grappling, below. This stunt can only be used on humanoid opponents.
Still, I don't think it's necessarily impossible for a character to grapple a Xenomorph—Dillon does in Alien 3, allowing Ripley time to pour the lead.
 
Pily
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Re: Chariot Of The Gods changes summary

Sat 20 Jul 2019, 22:11



Oh, duh! I didn't even think of that. It still doesn't give a value for Close Combat, but it's something.
So that you know what to roll to resist when a PC attempts a grapple? I don’t think it’s at all possible for a PC to grapple a Xeno. 
You are correct as per the Cinematic Starter Kit, page 58:
You pin your enemy in a tight clinch. See Grappling, below. This stunt can only be used on humanoid opponents.
Still, I don't think it's necessarily impossible for a character to grapple a Xenomorph—Dillon does in Alien 3, allowing Ripley time to pour the lead.
I do believe you could grapple an alien if cought unaware and depend on the size of it for a few secend before it kills you. But the Alien in Alien 3 is smaller as it comes out of a dog and that's why it runs like one say compared to one that comes from a human body which is a lot taller
 
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The1TrueFredrix
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Re: Chariot Of The Gods changes summary

Sat 20 Jul 2019, 23:35

I can’t recall that scene exactly (I have only seen Alien3 once, in the cinema when it first came out) but in these rules it would be covered as Dillon Helping Ripley, not a separate grapple action then attack by Ripley. 
Effekt - A fan podcast celebrating Swedish RPGs including, but not limited to: Alien; Coriolis; Forbidden Lands; Symbaroum; and Tales from the Loop. Featuring discussion magazine episodes and Actual Play recordings. https://effektpodcast.org/

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