(Planet 28) Terror of the Loc-Nar!

 The Loc-Nar, a sentient being of great evil and power, has been unearthed on 23-Demfort, the Planet of Death.  All who have come in contact with it have become mindless, slathering monsters.  To stop this madness, brave heroes must find this Loc-Nar, and cast it into the center of a stone circle before they succumb to the hordes...

Or, in other words, let's have ViscountEric finally try out Planet 28!

An empty house over 4th gave me an opportunity to sit back, relax, break out figures, and finally run a solo scenario, "Terror of the Loc-Nar."

Of course, the main goal is to subject my girls to the same scenario, as I experiment with the rules to see if they're truly a good fit for my Gnomish Space Marines, so a few changes needed to be made. 

Each turn, three situational rolls are made off of a scenario chart.  

1. Roll to see how many "monsters" appears and at which location (1-5)
2. Roll to see where the Loc-Nar teleports to (2-5 only)
3. Roll to see what loot (ammo/med-paks) appear and where.

The desert side of 23-Demfort and the temple (#1)

To allow the girls to each run a character in the future game (and me run the monsters), I set up an unlikely duo:  A lost Space Mariner and a Killer Teddy Bear

Ignate Perditius - Lost Space Mariner   257 points

Shooting -  5   Fighting - 7   Agility - 7 Hit Points - 20   Speed - 10cm

Traits: Shore Footed, Unshakable

Equipment:  Bolt Pistol (1d10+2 damage, range 25), Chainsword (2d6+6) , Heavy Armor (1d12+6, -1 Agility already calculated)

Cuddles - Teddy Bear Cyborg Bounty Hunter - 280 points

Shooting - 9   Fighting - 7  Agility - 7  Hit Points - 20   Speed 10cm

Traits: Unshakable, Inspiring, Heal

Equipment: Heavy Laser Pistol (1d10+2 damage, range 25), Light Armor (1d8)

The duo started at the temple and were immediately greeted by two shambling bodies.  They both turned, in proper cinematic style, and blew off their heads.

Ignate and Cuddles don't even get a moment to collect their thoughts...

Meanwhile, the dread Loc-Nar began it's game long journey, bouncing from one location to another, luring the monsters away from the heroes, if it was closer.  

The damn thing was never closer...

As they ventured out of the circle, two more came running at them.  The speed caught both off-guard and they missed their shots.  The creatures closed, and  Ignate powered up his chain sword, making short work of his.  

Turning around, he made a horrible discovery:  He had chosen a team up with a bear that did not bring a melee weapon!   He was a crack shot with his ray-gun, but Cuddles' soft fists could barely damage the monster.  Ignate was forced to save his ally, and hopefully have time to regroup, but more were coming. 

Ignate was a whirlwind of terror, striking down every monster that came near him.  He even came within inches (centimeters) of latching onto the Loc-Nar where it teleported near him. 

Cuddles was not so lucky. 

All it took was one or two ineffective shots, and the cyborg teddy bear was beset upon more and more of the creatures.  Lucky for him, their rending claws were largely ineffective against his armor, but a few scratches got through.  And as more descended upon him, those scratches added up. 

Losing all hope for his partner, Ignate dashed to the far side of the complex, and hoped the randomness of the Loc-Nar's movement would land literally in his lap.  

It only took took a few moments for his action to pay off.  

Meanwhile, the horde finally overwhelmed Cuddles.  

The monsters were directed to charge at a character, or move towards the Loc-Nar, and with both together, it was a mad dash back to the temple.  

I could have added a lot more points to Ignate's character, but as a lost Space Mariner scout, I kept the original "reasonable" stats I gave him when I painted him (see above).  I didn't think too much of "Shore Footed" (like that in the rules... essentially movement through rough terrain is normal, treacherous terrain is treated as rough)  Until the Space Mariner needed to run through the stones, rather than the openings.  This allowed Ignate and the Loc-Nar to get inside the circle one round earlier, and the terrain slowed down some of the slathering monsters (who would not walk around the terrain), while the others were mere centimeters short.  The Loc-Nar was dispatched, and the monsters fell to the ground.  

I did not roll up on the campaign result table to Cuddles.  Was the effect of the Loc-Nar contagious through a bite?  Can Teddy Bears even be affected by it?  Should Ignate find a tailor or seamstress to heal him?  Somewhere, the concept of a "Necro-Bear" sounds cooler than it should.  Thank God I have more of those figures to paint up. 

Overall, Planet 28 did what I expected it to do.   My true toughest problems were (a) not bringing enough dice and (b) trying to find a ruler with centimeters.   There is a sudden upswing in power akin to 40k.  While an unarmed Cuddles was able to withstand the attacks for rounds, Ignate's Heavy Armor (if he had gotten hit) would have easily blocked most claw attacks, and any thrown objects would simply bounce off.  I'll if the power curve increases when I include vehicles and heavier weaponry, but for a more classic Necromunda feel, I'm down with it.  

A couple of revisions before the girls get ahold of the game:  We're doing full conversion to traditional zombies (10cm max movement per turn) with 1d3+1 (2-4) generated per turn, rather than 1d4.

And Cuddles is getting, at the least, a big-ass knife....