Category Archives: Starship Troopers

Something new for March

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What’s been going on?

Well it has been a loooong time since I last updated this blog. Sometimes life, moving, Christmas and Open University just get in the way of gaming. Boooooo Sucks!

Though I have been playing in the weekly RPG sessions, Vampire = Shitloads of d10 + Cool, Starship Troopers = Guns + Cool.

Hopefully this brand new start will lead to regular updates of the Drunken Goblin website.

So what’s new?

Well this year I wanted to try something new with our gaming group. I proposed each member run one shot adventure each week through March. I had tried a one shot session in December with a Christmas themed Gamma World adventure. Then the next session we had a few players who could not make it so Nicky ran a wicked one-shot Dark Heresy adventure.

MMMmm… facing off against a Genestealer and I accidently, “cough”, killed Kevin’s character. But really Kev! Who goes into hand to hand combat with a Genestealer with the rest of the team taking aim with an assortment of huge and extremely deadly weapons. Including a Bolt Pistols, it deserves the capital letters, with explosive rounds that I needed to fire…Ops!…sorry Kev. Then I felt REALLY bad when he gave my Starship Trooper character covering fire last night.

So back to my idea of one-shots. Everyone thought it was a good idea, it gives everyone the chance to DM a game and to try out different systems. The rules were simple:

  • The adventure must last one session, running for approx. 3 hours
  • Characters will be provided by the person running the adventure
  • We can run any system we like

So far the following game systems have been borrowed or bought:

  • Kevin has decided to run WFRP 3rd ED
  • I nabbed Serenity
  • Steve will be running Grimm Fairytales
  • Chef has decided to purchase the new Deathwatch system

I’m looking forward to playing with the new systems and seeing what the guys come up with adventure wise. Let the adventure writing begin…

Starship Troopers – Not Again O-God Why Us?

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This was the continued story from the last gaming session here goes……MU HA HA

Steve has just spotted two bugs coming in about 200 metres out from the town so on to the new initiative phase and this time my bugs go last (damn it ) Steve fires and wounds one… a good start. Pigeon and Newton stand ready between the bugs and the civilians with rifles aimed , Rocket stumbles over after getting out the house and joins the guys in a line ready for the onslaught ( all three guys decide to postpone there turn so they will have a go at the bugs ).  The bugs move into the edge of the town and see three tasty meals at the end of the road.  Then suddenly bullets come flying towards them from the three figures doing a few wounds.

So Steve fires on full auto and does a wound, better than nothing.  Pigeon, Newton, Rocket fire full auto laying down a massive amount of fire-power hitting the bugs. The bugs stumble a little from the onslaught and are bleeding from a couple of wounds.  Then with a almighty roar they charge and hit the guys with a massive amount of force dealing a few wounds to the guys.

Steve can see from his vantage point that the melee is going on with full force and decides the guys need a hand now.  So he crouches down, slows his breathing, locks his corsairs on a bug and fires.  The bullet fly straight for it’s target when suddenly a gust of wind throws the trajectory off a little and it passes millimetres from the bug.  Steve can see that the bullet is dipping to much and will just hit the ground.  Steve eyes grow fearful, he has just seen Newton move his leg into the path of the bullet.  It hits the shin just where at crack early today and bursts open the armour and shin in a fountain of blood.  Newtons eyes roll back into his head and he collapses . Looking down at a pool of blood spreading out of Newton Rocket doesn’t see the bug slice into his armour until the last minute and screams, Pigeon seeing Newton go down decides to fight with a renewed fury and does considerable damage to one of the bugs. Rocket fires point blank range at the bug while clutching at his new wound.

Steve decides after his failed attempt he needs get down into the combat and help the guys, he soars into the air on his jet pack and shoots a bug at point blank range after he landed.  Rocket lands a few savage blows and does a couple of wounds . Pigeon deciding he needs to get Newton out of there does a roll whilst firing.  Then grabbing Newton puts him onto his shoulder and says ” Don’t worry man,  I’ll get you out of here just hang in there.”  As pigeon starts to move off the bug leaps at Pigeon and rips off part of his armour on his back and takes a chunk of flesh with it.  Pigeon falls to the ground unconscious due to the blow and Newton falls on top of him .

Steve seeing that this isn’t going very well feels determined to bring this to a heroic end.  He fires his pistol causing a big hole in the side of the bug  and slices him with his combat knife as well.  Rocket then goes in for a savage blow and puts a big gash on the bug . The bug bleeding from quite a few wounds lunges at Rocket and knocks him to the floor, he looks unconscious . Steve then seeing his friends falling around him puts even more effort into his blows but just doesn’t feel he is getting anywhere,  It looks like the bug knows the end is at hand and lunges at Steve to finish the job.  Then there’s an almighty crack from a gun and a bullet passes by Steve’s head and enters the big hole he made earlier.  The bullet enters the bugs skull and bounces round.  The bug has a look in it’s eyes like it cant quite believe its dead and falls over never to get back up again.  Steve looks round, sees Rocket propped up on one elbow with blood dripping out the bottom of his helmet and a smoking gun in the other hand.  He smiles then drops the gun, puts his middle finger up to the bug  and collapses.

After the viking crew help Steve get the wounded back to the Viking and head up to the ship.  He sees that there’s no villagers left down in the villiage and they got the evac they wanted from the beginning.

That was the end of Operation Farm but what has SICON got  planned for them next? Maybe their job isnt finished with the village yet. MU HA HA

Starship Troopers – Do I Have To Fight It?

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Well from my last session of starship troopers rpg the guys seemed to have picked up the basics quite easily. Then this session we had another player turn up who missed the first session, so I thought to myself there’s four of them, that should make it a bit easier so lets give them a real mission they can work towards or not as they decided.

Operation : FARM LIFE

“Right apes this should be simple enough . We got a small group of colonists planetside that are right in the path of a bug swarm . We need you to go in there and pull them out (as I explained to the guys not literally cus that would be, silly didn’t stop them coming up with ideas tho, moving on ) Get them all grouped together for the viking to come and take them away.  But I forget ,this planet ain’t part of the UCF , and those ingrates got no love for troopers . keep an eye out.”

Much moaning from group about babysitting and why the hell are we helping people that don’t like us etc., but then onto the mission and once I start I cant stop….

So the guys travel down in a Viking and as they approach the landing site they see the small village through their viewing holes.  The building are like concrete prefab houses in the middle of a dessert,  the viking touches down and the guys exit out, the ship takes off and says to give them a call when their ready to evac.  So Newton (the newbie) decides the scout around the village.  The other  guys decide to start knocking on doors  and asking people to leave, well this is how it went .

Steve knocks on door :

“Who is it?”

“Troopers to help you leave.”

old man opens the door : “Oh, your the nice fellows they sent down to keep us safe.”

Steve : “Yes sir, will you come with me” (Steve rolls and gets a really good score on his DC)

Old man : “How about this I’ll come out and give a hand to round up the rest of the villagers.”

Steve : “Yes, that would be nice. Thank you”

Well this was a very good attempt from Steve, so how did the others get on……well here goes

Pigeon knocks on door

Villager : “Go away!“

Pidgeon : “OK !” just walks off

Next

Chris knocks on door

“Go away! We don’t want your help.”

Chris : “I’m here to help and I need you out the building so we can get you somewhere safe.” (throws his DC and fails)

Citizen : “Don’t care!”

Chris : “Well if ya don’t open up, ill have to break down the door.”

citizen : “Go on, try hard boy.”

Chris:  “Fine, bring up the grenades and I’ll blow the door in.” (this was a good solution for my group cus they don’t have grenades, but as the guys pointed out the citizens don’t know that)

Citizen : “OK! OK!, We are going out just don’t kill any of us.”

Well they got the job done but not quite the diplomatic route.  Newton, after scouting for a bit, decides to try a door

Newton knocks on door

Citizen : “Go away!”

Newton screams at the top of his voice : “Oh my god, the bugs are everywhere, they have just taking your next door neighbours and you got ten seconds or I’m leaving”

Citizens couldn’t run any faster out there door

Job done but now the citizens need a new home and change of underwear .

As this is going on pigeon decides to try his jet pack to get up on one of the neighbouring houses at the end of the street.  He takes a perception test and passes.  In the distance he spots three BUGS heading their way from the east.  He radios all the guys and informs them that bugs are on the way, but finds out not all the citizens have left their homes and 20 are missing. So are we ready for a dramatic fight to the death to save the citizens and not let the bugs thru?

Well, in my groups case the first thing they do is call for evac.  I said “What about the citizens still trying to get on the shuttle?”  they all just looked at me. OK! OK!  I got my answer but as fate happens their evac couldn’t land due to the amount of air traffic picking up the citizens. WHAT A SHAME, WA HA HA HA!

This is where it got interesting because they couldn’t run they had to fight.  So Pigeon, Newton and Steve take positions on the nearest building where the bugs are going to come in. Chris stood between the bugs and the citizens if it came to that.  So that’s the plan, all good, but I know my group.  Here goes nothing!  So everyone rolls initiative, the guys get really good rolls except one, my bugs go second to last.  The bugs are currently 400 meters away. Pigeon holds his turn until they are within 300m Steve does the same but at a distance of 200m. Chris is down with the citizens so cant see that far, then its the bugs go.  They run full pelt and when they close to within 300m Pigeon lines up and fires but the bullet bounces off the bugs armour.  So then the bugs reach the 200m mark and Steve shoots and gets a hit straight thru the armour.  So now the bugs are within 200m its Newtons turn. With another hit things are going well so far .

New round, Pigeon lines up…fires putting a bullet thru the bug ouch!  Steve and Newton both fire and miss oops!  Again Chris cant see anything but now the bugs can run which puts them right on the outskirts of the city. In the next round they they would be inside the town . The guys decide to go full auto on the bugs to see if they can really do some damage.  A nice couple of hits but nothing that’s really going to kill the bugs.  Now the bugs run in to town.  One runs to the rooftop Steve is on while the other two run towards the feast down the other end of the street, the only person in their way is CHRIS .

This round is where things got interesting.  Chris decides he doesn’t like bugs and jet packs up vertical and hovers there and unloads into the bugs running towards him.  This causes a couple of wounds HU RA.  Now there is no one in the way to stop the bugs getting the civilians but have no fear pigeon is here and jet packs in front of them shooting all the way causing another wound and then swings his rifle round to his back and pulls out his combat knife and pistol ready for the onslaught.  Newton comes screaming in on a trail of  fire and lands next to pigeon and fires but misses . They both look at each other and a understanding crosses between them THIS IS THE DUMBEST THING WE HAVE EVER DONE, KISS YA ASS GOODBYE. As this is happening Steve shoots at the bug looking lost on the other side of the building.  It was wondering where his meal went and Steve shoots him and wounds. The bug on the roof turns round and chases Steve to the other building, maybe this time he will get him the other two charge in and attack Pigeon and Newton but do no damage.

Pidgeon  stabs the bug , problem is his knife went in to far and he cant pull it out, its stuck.  DAMN but have no fear pigeon is here whilst  holding onto his knife he leaps over the bug and lands onto its back riding it like a cowboy, YEE HA .  He then fires his pistol point blank range into the bugs head and finally the bug slumps to the floor dead.  Chris decides if Pigeon can do it, so can I, so drops down and attempts to ride the bug while shooting all at the same time but well……he’s just not that good and misses, fires his weapon and shoots poor Newton in the shin and cracks his armours.  He then  falls flat on his face at the feet of Newton  OOPS! Well newton is thinking ow what the hell was that and then looks down at Chris at his feet with a smoking pistol in his hand.  With a sly smile and a wink in his eye he fires at the bug to distract it but bends down and as he was a car thief in his younger age he knows how to hot wire things, just cross these two wires, simple.  So he crosses two wires on the back of Chris’s jet pack and fires him off bumping along the ground heading for a house. Steve jet packs in the air and shoots the bug below him on the roof top and the bullet passes straight thru him , the bug doesn’t quite know what happened but his legs don’t work, then everything goes black and it dies. Well the last bug has just seen this tasty meal fly off without even getting a nibble so chases Chris.

So after dismounting his ride pigeon decides to shoot the bug chasing Chris and wounds, Newton does the same and wounds (bugs nearly dead) so Chris decides flying at a rate of knots across the ground with your face eating dirt ain’t nice so tries to get his legs under himself to push off the ground . But fails so he pushes and starts to roll, then takes off and flys straight thru a window and hits a wall and slumps to the ground moaning .

Steve lines up aims and fires at the last bug and hits clean thru the nerve point and the bugs falls over and skids until it hits the wall of the building that Chris is in, it then dies, what a way to go. Chris at this moment isn’t feeling to well then he hears a voice its saying ” Rocket come in can you hear me Rocket ” Chris releases that’s Newtons voice and responds with ” What what did you just call me ?” Newton says ” Well Rocket you flew just like one so you deserve it, HA HA HA ”

AS the guys are HU RAin and generally laughing at Chrisy’s new nickname Rocket I make Steve take a perception test and as he turns his head round he sees another two bugs heading in OH-CRAP.

Starship Troopers – Do You Want To Live Forever?

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Well in the first session of Starship Troopers RPG they nearly didn’t. I have loved Starship Troopers since I saw the first film I was hooked. As people have told me if you love it there’s probably a roleplay system for it.

So off I went to find one, trying to find a copy of the rule book was not easy but thanks to my mate Mike I was able to download the rulebook from RPGNow.com straight to my computer. I thought I would print the rule book out, well 288 pages and five ink cartridges later I had my rule book and also ordered three of the expansions BOOT CAMP , AMBUSH AT ALTAIR and THE ARACHNID INVASION which added to my reading .

So I read the rules and found that the combat is the same as Dungeons and Dragons second edition which me and the guys had played before so this was going be pretty simple. I decided to make up a little mission so that I could explain how all the characters know each other. One way I thought of this was by way of a flashback which we have used in our Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay sessions and worked really well. I thought it would be brilliant, we could try out the combat system and see how it went and on the plus side the characters cant die but as I was to find out they can come really close .

So the story starts out with the characters aboard the space ship THE WILLIAM TELL going through transit to the planet Zera 5 to deal with a bug infestation. The journey would take two weeks to get to so they decide to go to the mess hall to grab some lunch. The characters were eating lunch and I ask all them to make a perception check. A couple of them pass and they notice at the corner of there eye some new recruits pointing at them and pushing one of there members forward.

So the unlucky chap comes up to them and says

“Hi me and the guys were wondering if your Lucky’s boys.”

Now I know my group so i know what there answer is going to be NO! so as you can imagined I had planned for this. At this point the group of recruits has come forward and the lad says

“I think you are and so does the guys we were just wondering if you could tell us the story of how you got that name ?”

Can you guess what there answer will be yep you got it NO! but i planned for this so all of a sudden a tall muscular man with a beard approaches and says “Don’t worry about them lads there just grouchy they keep surviving but i don’t mind telling you THE Names Commander LUCKY”

Queue flashback

Right guys there are alarm klaxons sounding and red lights going off and you are all being huddled into your squads ready to be put into your drop capsules you never knew you first combat drop would be like this you just remember the briefing:

“Right gentlemen sicon has found us some bugs to hunt dont worry they are in for a bigger surprise then us . We are sending a whole platoon down to clear out the remaining force. If there is any after fleet bombards them to bits all you will have to do is kick a few carcusess so do you want to live forever? If yes then go suit up.”

So guys you are in your small tight very confining capsule can I have a willpower save from ya all. so one fails and starts to scream and shout “I ain’t getting on no plane” but before he can do anything about it he’s capsule was shot out into space. Imagine a revolver stuck to the side of the ship and each capsule gets loaded then shot out. So as the guys are hurtling towards the surface at speed I get them to make a fortitude save and two fail so they throw up in there helmets but don’t worry the suits built for this type of thing and sucks the sick away. As they head towards the landing area they hear explosions and screaming over the com. What the hell is going on out there?

As their capsules hit the ground and pops open the door one of the guys (Tristan) jumps out scans the surrounding area sees nothing, so decides to end it now and shoots himself in the head. So he makes his roll and misses so what happens? The bullet rebounds off his helmet and hits a pigeon that was flying in the air and kills it. So now he decides he wants a trophy so gos and collects the pigeon, while he is attaching it to his belt both of the other guys turns up after hearing the shot and looks at this guy attaching a pigeon to his and belt and says “PIGEON?” and the character reply’s yep that’s me.

(In character creation the guys had to come up with a call signs, so I had added how he got the name )

So now the guys are ready to go get some bugs but before they do they hear on the com a distress signal so change channel and listen :

“Hello hello is anyone out there or am i the only f*+k that landed.”

“Hello this is Chris who is this?”

“Well thank the bugs can’t shoot straight. I’m lieutenant Lucky and my capsules upside down and I can’t get my door open. I got bugs knocking on my door so if it isn’t to much trouble GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE AND GET ME OUT THIS F*CKING TIN CAN BEFORE THE BUGS DO I’m activating my beacon now.

So off goes the guys to help lieutenant Lucky but as they head out I let them know that where the fleet bombarded the place the dust still hasn’t settled so vision is restricted to 150ft. So they get within 150ft and see shadows, random scrapping noises, random com chatter “f-ck off bugs” and something about there mum. So the guys open fire, well what happened was the guys forgot they could open up on full automatic (or they said they didn’t want to hit lieutenant Lucky). So they shot a bullet each two misses and one bounces off the bugs Armour but at least they now know the guys are here. So with a screech and the bugs headed towards the group.

Now I got their movement wrong. What should of been a mad charge was a walk because the bugs would of been on them in one turn. I thought after the bombardment the bugs would still be a little shaken and injured so this worked well. Now initiative, well there’s something that never happens, the badies go first. They moved closer, now the guys didnt hold anything back and went for it full auto…and did sod all. Next the bugs move closer and the guys feel more pressured and real give it there all and cause afew wounds. As the bugs move forward the guys hear a almighty bang from behind the bugs and sees lieutenant Lucky stand up and open up reducing a bug to shreds. The guys give it one last go and open up taking a few wounds off one.

Now this is where it got tough the bugs moved in close range and the guys have never seen a bug this close before. A 550kg killing machine with no remorse and a big appetite. They tested for fear, two of them panic and drop their gun and try to fend the bugs off with there hands. So one’s left to take a shot, pulls out his pistol and fires, so does lieu Lucky both of them wound.

So new round one bug lashes at Steve and gives him a claw to the chest and draws blood (at this point like to remind people that this is a flashback and not meant to kill the players cus they survived. I just took half Steve’s hit points with one attack. Nuts!). Between the guys they finish off one bug, so with only one left next round, Pigeon blows a knee cap off the last bug leaving only three good legs.

The Bug can’t hit this round, Pigeon lines up takes a shot and blows its other knee cap off ha! Only two legs left and that’s it for that round. So the Bug with two legs left looks at Pigeon and doesn’t like him much, so with all its strength it leaps at Pigeon and impales him with both claws straight tru the shoulders (Doh! Done it again, got a crit on the dice and double damage, oops). Then lieu Lucky shoots the bug dead, Pigeon slumps to the floor (zero hit points, sigh of relief from me he still alive) after lieu Lucky bandages up Pigeon they call in evac but are told plasma in the area so have to take them out.

The group head off to get rid of the plasma and find them being herded into tunnels out the way. Lieu Lucky hands Chris a Spyder, which is a laser targeter for or orbital bombardment. Then him and Steve help Pigeon to the evac while Chris sets the targeter and runs like hell. They only got five minutes till it goes off, so best move .

The group get to the shuttle OK but the pilot is crazy and goes full throttle just as the guys get on. He starts to climb rapidly and all the guys pass a reflex save and sit down, except Chris who then passes a strength test to hold onto something. While he’s doing this he decides to shoot out the side of the shuttle at the bugs below, passes, and hits a plasma in the head and throws off its aim. What an end.

Now I have learned some lessons from this session and know what to do next time. I can’t wait!

So do you want to live forever?