Solo StarWarsD6 pt18: There Are Dragons

System: Star Wars D6 by West End Games.
Setting: Star Wars Era of the Rebellion.
Character: Royxand Handscul ‘Roy’, Corporate scout
Luca Delste, Smuggler
Kuna Desyk, Hacker
Solo Tools: MUNE, donjon, GameMaster’s Apprentice deck of cards from beta Alone release bundle
Books: Star Wars The Roleplaying Game Second Edition (West End Games), Galaxy Guide 8: Scouts, Tales of the Jedi Companion.
Homebrew Rules: D6Legends

In this session, I’m using a homebrew rules system to streamline the difficulty rolls. I explain everything in detail in my blog here.
You can view all my previous and the current posts in this subreddit and in my blog Solo, Pen, Paper and Dice.

Initiative:
Team: 4.
Hssiss: 11.

Round 1:
The Hssiss on top of the bookcase jumps on top of Luca and attacks.
H1: Brawling: 0/1: Miss
The Hssiss that blocks the doorway snaps at Luca as well.
H2: Brawling: 3+/1: Hit: 0/2: No Damage

Startled, Luca draws (-1D) his DL-44 and shoots at the second Hssiss.
Luca: Shoot H2: 2/1: Hit: 4/2: Incapacitated
Roy pulls his DL-18 and shoots at the remaining Hssiss.
Roy: Shoot H1: 3+/1: Hit: 3/2: Wounded
Kuna pulls his DL-18 and shoots at it as well.
Kuna: Shoot H1: 1/1: Hit: 3/0: Mortally Wounded.

The reptile on top of the bookcase leaps down, aiming for Luca, but it fails to find him and lands next to him instead. In a coordinated pack tactic action, the other beast snaps at Luca and catches his leg with its forearm, only cutting through the pants , failing to find any flesh.
Luca quickly pulls his heavy blaster pistol and shoots it point-blank, hitting it and incapacitating the beast. Roy and Kuna draw their guns as well and kill the other reptile.

“What are those beasts?!” Luca shouts.
“Probably the dragons that we read about!” Answers Roy.
“They seem hungry” Kuna fills in. “You mentioned something about a starship of sorts? Sounds like our way out here.”
“We’ll have to search for it. Let’s hope we won’t become lunch.” Roy agrees.

Q: Are there more Hssiss visible?
A: Yes

As they gather up, looking around, they see movement dancing in the shadows. ‘More of those creatures.’ Roy thinks. ‘They are biding their time and not closing in.’
Luca catches Roy staring at the shadows. “I know, boy. They must be smarter than they seem. They ain’t Zhorwil. They don’t attack now that they saw what happened to their brethren, but surely they will when they find us weak or at a disadvantage.”

Q: Do they have any scanner that would assist in locating the starship?
A: No, but they have night binoculars that will give a +1D bonus.
Roy: Search: 3+/3: Success
Q: Are they ambushed on their way?
A: Yes, and their path leads to a dead end and they have to fight their way out.

From the upper floor of the building, they scan through the windows using Roy’s night binoculars. In the distance Roy notices a weird frozen block that doesn’t seem to be a building. It must be the starship he thinks. Then, they go ahead and plot their course, using what they see from the top view as a guide, and head on.
Not every detail is visible though, and as they pass under a bridge, they see that the road ahead is blocked by a collapsed building. They see no way through and must turn back to choose another way.

Kuna nudges Roy and shows him what the reptiles were planning all along. A large number has surrounded them and they make that awful sound with their lungs. Hssiss…

Q: How many are there? (1D:+4)
A: 10
I will split them in groups of 1D, starting from short distance.
Group 1: 1D: 4 Hssiss, 7 meters distance
Group 2: 1D: 1 Hssiss, 20 meters distance
Group 3: 1D: 5 Hssiss, 40 meters distance
To make things a bit balanced, I decide that the 3rd group is atop the bridge and start descending from the rubble, that will take an Easy Climbing roll each round.
Since its an Ambush, I roll to see if the team is surprised prior to rolling initiative.
Hssiss: Ambush: 1/3: Failure: The team rolls initiative normally.

Initiative:
Team: 11
Hssiss: 10

Round 1:
Roy shoots at Group1: 2-/2: Hit (Complication): Damage: 1-/3: No damage. Blaster jammed. Roy can’t shoot again unless he successfully does an Easy Technical repair roll.
Luca shoots at Group1 twice (-1D): 3/2: Hit: 1-/3+: No damage, 1-/2: Miss.
Kuna shoots at Group1 twice (-1D): 2/2: Hit: 3/3: Stunned, 2/2: Hit: 3/0-: Mortally Wounded.

The three remaining Hssiss of Group1 will make a move and attack each of the team members separately.
1st: Brawling (Roy): 0-/1: Miss (Complication) It charges, fails to meet Roy and falls into a pit of rubble, and must make an Easy Climbing roll to get out.
2nd: Brawling (Luca): 1/1: Hit: 1/1: Stunned (-1D).
3rd: Brawling (Kuna): 3/1: Hit: 2/2: Stunned (-1D).
The Group 2 closes in at 4 meters.
Group 3 starts climbing down. I won’t go into details. An additional rule I set to describe the failed movement roll results, is that a slight loss of control also means that only half the move was performed, while a serious loss of control means that they didn’t manage to move any closer at all. I will just write down their distances after their rolls.
1: 36m, 2: 32m, 3: 32m, 4: 32m, 5: 32m.

This time the team has their blasters at the ready. They were expecting trouble.
Roy counts the beasts and sees a handful emerging from the rubble around them and another handful atop the bridge, starting to climb down the debris.
He shoots at the closest ones. Hit it, but it doesn’t break a sweat. In addition the connector to his blaster clip has dislodged. He needs to fix it before he can fire again.
Luca shoots but misses, but Kuna downs one of the beasts in two repeated shots.
The beasts snap at them. Luca and Kuna are hit and are stunned a bit by the force of their blows, but they manage to stay standing. The dragon that attacked Roy lunges at him, but fails by far to reach him, landing in a big hole instead.
The rest of the creatures slowly close in.

Round 2:
Roy: Blaster repair: 1/2: Fail
Luca shoots at Group1: 1-/1: Hit: 4+/3: Wounded
Kuna shoots at the same Hssiss: 3/1: Hit: 4/1: Mortally Wounded

The Hssiss that has to climb out: Climbing: 2/2: Success: It gets out
The other one from Group1 attacks Kuna who spends 1 CP to soak damage: Brawling: 1-/1: Hit: 2/3: No damage
Group 2 attacks Kuna: Brawling: 1-/1: Hit: 1/2: No damage
Group 3: 1: 28m, 32m, 28m, 24m, 28m

Roy starts trying to unjam his blaster pistol, while Luca and Kuna kill another of the reptiles. The beast that missed Roy is back on its feet, and another one attacks Kuna, who quickly puts his boot in the beast’s mouth, preventing it from finding flesh.
The reptiles at the top continue their slow descent. Several pebbles and gravel falling down, as their step is less than ideal.

Round 3:
Roy: Blaster repair: 0/2: Fail
Luca shoots twice at Group 1: 1-/1: Hit: 3/4: No damage, 3/1: Hit: 5+/0: Dead
Kuna shoots twice at Group 1: 3+/1: Hit: 3/0: Mortally Wounded
I decide to allow switching targets after declaration, at a further -1D
Kuna shoots at Group 2: 1/1: Hit: 5/2: Mortally Wounded
Group 3: 1: 20m, 2: 32m, 3: 20m, 4: 24m, 5: 24m

Roy continues trying to fix his pistol, while his companions make short work of the beasts surrounding them. Luca kills one with a blaster shot to the head and Kuna puts two more out of the action.
Some of the descending reptiles are closer and some others are lagging behind.

Round 4:
Roy: Blaster Repair: 2/2: Success
Luca shoots the nearest Hssiss: 3/3: Hit: 3/3: Stunned.
Kuna shoots the same Hssiss: 3/3: Hit: 1/0: Wounded.
Group 3: 1: 16m, 2: 28m, 3: 12m, 4: 20m, 5: 16m.

Roy finally gets his blaster working, as Luca and Kuna off one more descending reptile with their combined shots.

Round 5:
Roy shoots the nearest Hssiss: 2/3: Miss.
Luca shoots the same: 5/3: Hit: 4/2: Incapacitated.
Kuna shoots the next nearest Hssiss: 1/3: Miss.
Group 3: 2: 20m, 12m, 12m, 8m.

As the beasts have a difficulty getting down the steep slope, the team takes this opportunity to pick them off one by one. Another one falls under blaster fire. Nevertheless, one dragon had managed to descend and is about to charge them.

Round 6:
Roy shoots the nearest Hssiss: 4+/2: Hit: 3+/3: Stunned.
Luca shoots the same: 1/2: Miss.
Kuna shoots the same: 2/2: Hit: 4+/1: Mortally Wounded.
Group 3: 2: 12m, 3: 12m, 4: 12m.

The team concentrates their fire on the beast that is about to charge them, and kill it before it has a chance.
The three last have trouble descending. They look around to see if they can retreat, but they are stuck between rubble. The hunter has become the prey.

Round 7:
Roy shoots: 1/2: Miss.
Luca shoots: 2/3: Miss.
Kuna shoots: 1/2: Miss.
Group 3: 2: 4m, 3: 8m, 4: 8m.

Despite their efforts, they don’t manage to hit any of the beasts, and with a quick leap, they are finally down to ground level.

Round 8:
Roy 1/2 Move & Shoot nearest Hssiss: 4/1: Hit: 3/0: Mortally Wounded.
Luca 1/2 Move & Shoot Hssiss twice: 3+/2: Hit: 3-/1: Incapacitated. Switch (-1D): 2/3: Miss.
Kuna: 1/2 Move & Shoot Hssiss twice: 1/2: Miss, 1/2: Miss (Complication): Empty Clip.
Hssiss Move and attack (Who?=Roy): 3+/1: Hit: 0/1: No damage.

Roy and Luca pick off two of the beasts, while Kuna ends up with an empty clip. He has to reload.
One dragon, furious charges at Roy, snaps at his hand, but the scout armor protects Roy from the physical attack.

Round 9:
Roy shoots Hssiss twice: 2/1: Hit: 3/2: Wounded, 3/1: Hit: 1/3: No damage.
Luca shoots Hssiss twice: 2/1: Hit: 1/0: Incapacitated.

Roy and Luca burst off blasts to the last reptile and it falls under concentrated fire.
The team pauses to recollect themselves. Some beasts are still breathing. They mercy kill them one by one.

They climb atop of the bridge and with a clear view through binoculars they plan a new route.

A while later they reach their objective.
A starship is evident frozen partially under ice.
It looks to be an ancient design, but more advanced than the first starships of some backwater worlds.
They stand a while and look in awe.
“Let’s find a way in, shall we?” Luca says and they try to find the airlock door.

Q: Is the door reachable?
A: No, and it’s covered by ice and will require unlocking.

Here I will roll for one of three starship designs operated by 1-2 crew from Tales of the Jedi Companion.
Roll: Vaya-class Scout Ship/Coruscant-class Heavy Courier/Delaya-class Courier Ship
A: It’s the Coruscant-class Heavy Courier

They locate the airlock on the top side, but its under a thick layer of ice. They will need to remove it.

Q: Do they have detonite?
A: No and no other explosives
Q: Do they have picks?
A: Yes, but not the vibro-tool design. They are the manual ones.

Roy removes three picks from the backpack and hands one over to Luca and one to Kuna. “Let’s get to it.” he says and starts hacking at the ice.

Q: How long? (1: not much, 6: a lot)
A: A lot
Intervention: Entity negative (Who?: Roy)
I draw two cards from GMA for a portent, and get: Regenerate stockpile.
I interpret it that something happens to Roy that will make their work undone, and will need to be redone.

It has taken them a few hours of hard work to get to the airlock door. Roy is on top of the opening, when the unremoved ice block next to him cracks and collapses on top of him, covering him and the door.
The team must get him out before he suffocates!

Here I call for some rules. Roy will need to make a increased difficult Stamina roll each round, starting from Easy. Each failure, will give him a wound level, that is not an actual wound (i.e. he will not remain wounded), but if he reaches Dead, he dies!
In order to remove the ice there will be needed 1D: 3 successful Moderate Strength rolls.

Round 1:
Roy: 3+/1: Success
Luca: 3/3: Success
Kuna: 2/3: Fail

Round 2:
Roy: 1/2: Fail, he passes out and is stunned
Luca: 3/3: Success
Kuna: 0/3: Fail

Round 3:
Roy: 2/3: Fail, wounded
Luca: 1/3: Fail
Kuna: 2/3: Fail

Round 4:
Roy: 3/4: Fail, incapacitated
Luca: 2/3: Fail
Kuna: 2/3: Fail

Round 5:
Roy: 3/5: Fail, mortally wounded
Luca spends 2 CPs to ensure success: 3/3: Success

Roy starts losing his breath, but pushing themselves harder, they manage to get him out in time. He was starting to become blue from lack of oxygen.
He hugs them both. “Thank you, you saved my life.”
“Don’t mention it boy.” Luca waves away the notion of a favor.

Q: How much more time is needed to clear the airlock again?
A: Very short time

Since the ice that collapsed is in smaller pieces, it’s easy to remove it from the airlock. The door is finally accessible.
Kuna notices the controls, and brings out his datapad to start hacking.

Kuna: Computer Programming/Repair: 6/3: Success

“The ship is really old. It has a security layer on the door, but it’s hacked. We can open it.” Kuna says a few minutes later.
Roy and Luca look at the door. It’s still closed.
“There is no power! Do I have to explain that as well? We need to manually pry it open now that its unlocked.” Kuna exclaims. He opens a small panel to the side, and turns a knob connected to a cog wheel. A sound is heard, and the door has fist sized opening.
Roy and Luca start pulling the door to the side until it’s open ajar.

There is total darkness inside. Nothing is running. No systems powered. Complete silence.
A chill runs down their spines, and it’s not because of the frozen Amal moon.
“All systems are dead.” Luca says, closing the door behind them. “Before we get any power to the cockpit, I will need to power up the generator manually. I will head over to find it, while you head to the cockpit, so that we can get everything running smoothly.
They each take a glowrod, and spread in the ship.

Session Background: I was concerned at first about those Hssiss. But I read in the rancor pit fora that there are two versions lying around. And the RAW, original that I have is weak. Therefore, a group of should be a challenge. I am glad to see that the team made sort work of them.
Not much to be told about the session here, only in retrospect I would have made the effort to pull out Roy work in a progressive manner. Instead of 1D moderate rolls, I would have made it like 1D*5 Successes. Luca and Kuna were working on removing Roy from the ice, it makes no sense to make no progress. Just small progress or large progress.
I am working on a Funds & Resources homebrew rule, but I’m not certain I want to use it yet.
Combat is the next part that I want tackle, to make it a bit more interesting. I got tired of having to run 13 entities, so I didn’t bother changing AI or interpreting the Wild Die results differently based on the +/- that I noted down. It seems that I will have to write down some homebrew rules *before* running a combat, so that my mind is clear.
Now we’ll have to see the secrets of the starship, if it’s their way out of there and if they will leave the Amalsi to their Imperial fate…