Skip to main content

Five Parsecs From Home (1e) Campaign (session 0)

Inspired by Shaun's blog I decided to start a Five Parsecs From Home 1st edition campaign. I like this edition because it has less book keeping than the current edition and the FiveCore combat system is suited to my taste. I will use these books:

  • Five Parsecs From Home (1e)
  • FiveCore Skirmish gaming (1e)
  • Every Star an Opportunity supplement for planet descriptions 
  • Scum and Villany for factions because they are quirky and fun

Session 0 involved character creation. The group will consist of 3 PC + 1 goon. They meet in the planet Nemain because all three of them are in trouble with the authorities.The randomly generated characters were (from left to right): Echo (a bounty hunter with a Power Claw), Sakir (and ordnance specialist from a religious cult) and Christa (a genetically enhanced hulker modified to have an absurdly strong body).

Echo                        Sakir                        Christa

And below is their full character sheet, including talents, backstory and current armoury: 

Nemain would be quite an agreeable planet if it were not ruled by a brutal dictator and on the verge of an ecological disaster. Banking on the apocalyptic mood, the two dominant factions are devoted to different flavors of drug recreation:

  • The Ashtari cult: Artifact worshipers that carry vials of gases from the Ashatari Cloud to inhale. The visions show them the location of precursor ruins.
  • The Turner Society They run posh society clubs that are a front for their business of selling Vosian crystal drugs.

These are the only two house rules I intend to employ:

  •  Only PC can be assigned to activities and events (except recruit, which can be attempted by goons). If no mission can be undertaken in a week due to injuries, one item has to be bartered away for upkeep per injured character.
  • I will play the FiveCore Skirmish gaming (1e) rules as written, except that I will change the result of a FLINCH while in COVER to: "Figures in cover will keep their heads down (breaking line of sight) but do not move or hunker down". This change is taken from Five Men in Normandy .30 cal edition. Going over an obstacle or on rough ground reduces movement by 1D6.


 

Labels:

Comments

  1. Shaun TraversApril 11, 2025 at 6:11 PM

    A excellent start! I started with 1 PC, which was a challenge, so 4 is much better. I also like your rule changes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MMApril 12, 2025 at 12:36 AM

      Thanks, Shaun! I had the PDF for ages but didn't read it until I saw your campaign. Now I think its a hidden gem. Very Travelleresque. Curiously, with Traveller I also prefer the first 1977 edition,

      Delete
    2. Shaun TraversApril 13, 2025 at 11:07 PM

      I was struck by it being very Traveller-ish as well. And I prefer CT over the other versions as well.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

5 wargaming mechanics that I dislike

 1. Command Radius . Ok, it may work if there is only one general (like in DBA), but this business of each commander having his own radius as if it is a shouting contest... Wally Simon debunked it long ago better than I could: "There was only one way Kris could maintain control of his entire division, keeping them all within his magical 3 inch radius, and that was to continually scrunch all six units together in one solid mass, cavalry, infantry and artillery [...] There are many gaming ploys that deal with command response functions, systems that supposedly reproduce the difficulties of commanders keeping their forces under their control, and, in my considered opinion, the 'mysterious aura' ploy is probably the worst of them all"  (PW Review May 1999) Guilty party example: Grande Armée. 2. Rerolls . The kind of rerolls that bother me are not those tied to some mechanic but what I call the insert-coin reroll. You start the battle with X rerolls and you may use them wh...
5 comments
Read more

Simplicity in ACW

A variant for Simplicity in Practice (Battlegames issue 23) for the American Civil War FIRING RANGES   Infantry 15 cm Cavalry 10 cm (mounted or dismounted) Artillery 40 cm     RELUCTANCE TO CLOSE-IN All infantry and cavalry units that wish to charge must take a test (Elites +1). Roll a d6: 1. Unit advances half way to the target of the charge, stops and fires with 2 dice. There is no melee. 2. Unit advances half way to the target of the charge, stops and the target tests to see if they retreat 10cm (50% chance, 16.66% for elites and units in cover). There is no melee regardless of the result. 3-6 Charge normally CAVALRY DUAL ROLE Mounted: They act for all purposes as LC in SiP Dismounted: They act for all purposes as LI in SiP, except they cannot interpenetrate. Movement deduction for mounting/dismounting 5cm. Only one change of status is allowed per turn. They may fire in the turn they dismount but with 2 dice (in successive turns 4 dice). LIGHT COVER (rail fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

One-hour Simplicity - Bridgehead (scenario 5)

A contested river crossing is one of the hardest situations in warfare. I present scenario 5 from the book One-Hour Wargames , but resolved using another Neil Thomas' ruleset called Simplicity in Practice (SiP). For adaptation notes see my first battlerep with this combo HERE .   The objective of the scenario for BLUE is to consolidate a bridgehead north of the river The composition of the armies is: BLUE: 4 infantry, 1 skirmishers, 1 cavalry RED: 3 infantry, 1 skirmishers, 2 cavalry Blue will arrive along the road and Red piecemeal at three random points: west of the woods, on the road and east of the hill.   At the start BLUE has a single unit north of the river: shadowy voltigeurs  have taken the woods. The first RED units show up west of the woods Since cavalry cannot enter the woods, they take a tortuous route around them. Unseen, the lurking skirmishers take aim BLUE cavalry crosses the bridge benefiting from a road move of 30cm.  In a river crossing, Space i...
3 comments
Read more