Lets Play - Falcon 2: Mechanon

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

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SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

Sword
Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Before the crackling mace can land you swirl your sword and hack at the arm that wields it. Make an Attack Roll.

If you score 7-12, turn to 24
If you score 2-6, turn to 12

Got a 3 and a 2, so:

Your sword blade whistles through air as the Black Knight reacts to your attack with superhuman speed. The visor on his great black helm clicks open. A beam of red light lances towards you and you try desperately to throw yourself aside. Make an
Evasion Roll.
If you score 6-12...rolles 3 and 4, -1 from the injury from last book.

74
You hurl yourself to the ground, a lancing fed light narrowly missing your shoulder. As you pick yourself up the Black Knight swivels and raises his mace to strike at Sir Thomas Chandos who himself is engaged in a titanic struggle with the Duke of Alencon and another French knight. The mace crackles ominously with electricity. Will you:

Use your Power of Will to command the Duke of Alencon to attack the Black Knight?
Attack the Black Knight with your sword?
Use your blaster on the Black Knight?
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Power of Will could remove two combatants, let's go for that.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

SlyJohnny wrote:Power of Will could remove two combatants, let's go for that.
This.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

You have only a moment before the Black Knight's mace crushes Sir Thomas Chandos. Desperately, you focus your thought and project your will into the mind of the French knight, the Duke of Alencon. Make a Power of Will Roll.

If you score 5-12, turn to 132
If you score 2-4, turn to 111

Got 1 and 1:

The Duke of Alencon is brave, impetuous and headstrong. Your efforts to subjugate his will are not enough, he merely swings his sword at you. You step back, but as you do so the Black Knight's mace buries itself in Sir Thomas Chandos' helmeted head, splitting it like an overripe melon. You reach for your blaster but everything goes black. Yelov's assassin droid has killed Sir Thomas Chandos, your ancestor, before his son has been born. His line has died and so have you, along with it. It is as if you had never existed.

So...re-roll that one or go back and try something else?
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Those do not look like the odds for a winning option. Thinking about it there's no reason the Droid Knight would bother moving.

Just blast it, it's already broken kayfabe.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

Rolling 5-12 to succeed was actually pretty good odds. It was just bad luck that we got a double-1. I'm not sure using blaster or sword will lead to better odds.

I vote re-roll that PoW attempt.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

SGamerz wrote:Rolling 5-12 to succeed was actually pretty good odds. It was just bad luck that we got a double-1. I'm not sure using blaster or sword will lead to better odds.

I vote re-roll that PoW attempt.
I meant that the fact it was such good odds made me think it wouldn't actually result in saving Sir Thomas even had we rolled high enough.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

Omegonthesane wrote:
SGamerz wrote:Rolling 5-12 to succeed was actually pretty good odds. It was just bad luck that we got a double-1. I'm not sure using blaster or sword will lead to better odds.

I vote re-roll that PoW attempt.
I meant that the fact it was such good odds made me think it wouldn't actually result in saving Sir Thomas even had we rolled high enough.
This isn't written by Steve Jackson UK. I don't think Smith and Thomson are that dickish to give us a double-fail dice roll. They'd have given an auto-fail ending and not waste our time with a dice roll if that was their intention.
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

We should've opened with the blaster. I think you guys are overestimating the consequences of a brief flash of light in the context of a chaotic medieval battle... we should use our superior tech, not be reduced to swordfighting like these primitives!
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

We now know that the Black Knight is a time-traveling assassin droid, against whom which medieval weapons probably don't do much. Blast it.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

3

Your aim, though hasty, is true and a sizzling beam of white-hot plasma erupts against the Black Knight. The black armour is ripped open, revealing mechanical gears and electronic circuitry beneath and the droid collapses before exploding loudly. Sir Thomas Chandos and the other knights turn towards you and then begin to run, terrified of your 'sorcery'. With a loud, if muffled, cheer the French knights press onward, scenting victory - your actions have changed the course of the battle and the English are losing. You quickly vapourise the remains of the droid as the tide of battle washes over you, defending yourself from the lances of the French with your shield. Will you:

Hasten back to Falcon's Wing?
Use your powers of Thinkstrike against the French knights?
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Fuck off, the fucking droid's laser doesn't count as sorcery but ours does?!

Show the French knights whose mother is a hamster and whose father smelt of elderberries - we can't afford to let history change this much.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

What a choice. Let a result of a war change or introduce more sorcery to history. Falcon is doing such a great job of not interfering with history.

What the hell, if we fail, we might as well go down in style. Show off our magic.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

As the French knights flow past you in pursuit of the English men at arms, hacking at you with their swords as they go, you concentrate your thoughts and hurl blast after blast of mental energy at them even while catching sword blows on your shield. You topple several from the saddle. The impetus of their charge slows and just at the right moment twenty English knights arrive, having been ordered to the Black Prince's position by King Edward when his son and his son's banner had been thrown to the ground. The English rally and after fierce fighting the French are repulsed once more. You regain the safety of Falcon's Wing, suffering no more than the mockery of some camp followers who think that you are fleeing the battle in fear. CAIN tells you that his scanners registered the fact that the Black Knight was a droid from Mechanon, and that it must have been programmed to kill Sir Thomas Chandos who is probably your ancestor. 'Be careful Falcon, Yelov is trying to kill you.' If you didn't know that electronic brains are not programmed to register emotion CAIN's tone would have you believe CAIN was worried on your behalf. You ask CAIN what effect the changes in history will have. CAIN is silent for some seconds before replying, 'King Edward will still take Calais from the French and most of the changes will be cancelled out by the terrible plague called the Black Death that will sweep Europe in two years' time.'

You can see on the console screen that the battle is continuing. The Black Prince is alive, another horse between his knees, and his standard has been raised once more. The camera zooms in on the leader of yet another French charge. CAIN tells you that the man in the visor-less helmet tied to two other knights who are leading his horse into battle is King John the Blind of Bohemia. Once again the French charge is broken by the English archers and is thrown back. You can see the blind king lying dead on the field,still tied to his brave knights. It is already dusk and the English have almost won the day. There is nothing more for you to do here in medieval France.

294
In the safety of Falcon's Wing you reconsider the situation. The disturbances in the timelines of the two planets, Thrix and Mechanon, are clearly related. As time is pressing and Yelov has bought himself several hours by tying you up here at Crecy you decide to ask for just one more item of information. Will you ask CAIN:

What forces Mechanon could provide if it was saved from destruction?
Whether Mechanon and/or Thrix have the Polybdenum necessary for Yelov to make many time trips?
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Ask about whether or not the planets have enough resources for Yelov to make more trips.
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Post by SGamerz »

^That.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

CAIN replies that all traces of Polybdenum were mined out of Mechanon for use in wardroids centuries ago. Yelov's machine like yours, carried enough Polybdenum to use the Variac Drive for eight jumps through time and space. If Yelov needs Polybdenum then Thrix is the obvious place to go for it - the planet Thrix has the richest seams of Polybdenum-Iridium ore yet discovered.

273
You realise that before you type in the coordinates for a new destination in time and space you must have formulated a good guess as to what Yelov's plan is. Consider the three possibilities set below and decide which, in your opinion, knowing Yelov as you do, is the most likely.

A: Agidy Yelov is using the wardroids of Mechanon to build an impregnable fortress on the inhospitable planet Thrix where he can make himself safe from the Space Federation who might be happy to leave him there to rot.

B: Agidy Yelov is moving the wardroids of Mechanon to the planet Thrix before they are destroyed by the nuclear catastrophe on Mechanon where he will hide them until he is ready to attack Earth by moving them into the timehole at the Eiger Vault in 3033 AD.

C: Agidy Yelov has already prevented the nuclear catastrophe on Mechanon and is travelling to Thrix in order to collect enough Polybdenum to ship the deadly arsenal of wardroids through time to attack the Federation.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

C. Yelov wants revenge on Falcon and the Federation, so he wouldn't hide, and I doubt he'd bother with sending the one assassin droid to Earth if he intended to send a conquering army there so I don't think he's interested in Earth beyond wanting to kill Sir Thomas Chandos. His partnership with the Hivers is over, and that was really the only reason he was trying to piss in Earth's Cheerios
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Agreed when you put it that way - wasn't certain it wasn't B myself, but hadn't thought through his actions.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by Thaluikhain »

229 [score an N]

You explain your best guess as to what Yelov is up to and you do not have to wait long for CAIN to reply, 'Affirmative, Falcon, I concur. I suggest you set coordinates for the planet Thrix.' Where will you set coordinates for?

A return to the Eiger Vault on Earth, 3033 AD?
The factory world of Mechanon?
The inhospitable world of Thrix, 1776 AD?
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

The inhospitable world of Thrix.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Thrix.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by Thaluikhain »

320

The transition into null-space and back again is smooth - too smooth! You miss the slight jar that usually shakes Falcon's Wing as the hydraulic legs adjust to the ground above which you rematerialise. The camera shows a thin mist, then you sit up and stare as a ghostly shape floats upwards past you. It looks like a series of metal girders riveted together with a crude rocket engine welded on at the back. The girders are braced by metal struts atop which a large crystal or faceted boulder rests. Your stomach leaps into your throat - the crude spaceship with its open-to-the-stars construction is not climbing, you are falling through the dense Thrixian atmosphere and you have just seen a Thrixian starship. Your altimeter shows 460 metres and you are gaining speed or accelerating at 10 metres per second from the stationary position in which you were held as you emerged from null-space. You have no retro-rockets - the only way to stop Falcon's Wing plummeting to destruction is to engage the Variac Drive and throw your Time Machine back into null-space and then back into Thrix, 1776 AD. If you get the timing exactly right, you may be able to wink out and return only inches above the surface. When will you instruct CAIN to engage the Variac Drive?

At one second intervals until you reach the surface?
After 9 seconds of free fall?
After 21 seconds of free fall?

(Oh, physics problem. Exactly the sort of thing CAIN should be able to do, but still)
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Out of those three options, it has to be one second intervals. Nine seconds of freefall at that speed from 460m up and we crash horribly at about the 3 second mark.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
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