Gorkamorka mob building and loadouts

I've had a couple more games of GorkaMorka and started building my own minis to represent my mob (as I borrowed them last time). Rules-as-written there are a few things to consider when choosing gear for my Boyz

• Everyone gets knives/knuckles free, meaning there's no reason any boy can't have multiple melee weapons
• The +1 Attacks bonus for having multiple melee weapons only applies to Boyz who don't have any two handed weapons
• The Big Shoota is hands down the best weapon, no reason not to take one on each vehicle apart from cost!

There's no advantage to having a pair of Choppas or a pair of Sluggas (apart from if one of them runs out of ammo) or a 'Uge Choppa and another melee weapon, so I've been reviewing my mob's loadouts.

The boyz grabbing some loot

My Nob's switched out his Slugga for a Shoota as they cost the same and the Shoota is better at range at the cost of being two-handed - so he got no benefit from using the Slugga with his 'Uge Choppa. Not that that would have stopped him being taken out by one of Jim's grots (above, left) - oh the shame!

Oddly, Slugga + Choppa is probably the best loadout for a Nob, despite the urge to beef them up. The game is definitely designed for boyz to go ranged OR melee, and I'm trying to make them all unique:

Melee/CQ 3-teef loadouts:

• Slugga + Choppa/Chain/Spear
• 6 Shoota + Choppa/Chain/Spear

I might play around with them but the other melee weapons (spears etc.) just don't feel like they have as much utility as a good ol' Choppa. Happy to take advice!

Ranged 3-teef loadouts:

• Kannon (worth trying out)
• Shoota + Choppa (for the strength bonus?)
• Shoota + Shield (cause I think it would look cool and might work?)

Stuff I'm toying with:

• 2x 6 Shootas (two rounds of firing before needing to reload) - 4 teef
• Shoota + 'Uge Choppa - 4 teef
• Frag stikkbombs (only? Nothing really adds much and they're already fairly expensive - but presumably fun) - 3 teef
• Just a Slugga - for the drivers - 2 teef

Going to try a few of these out. Thankfully I won a few bags of teef so I've put a Big Shoots on my second trukk too.

Suggestions for fun loadouts accepted in the comments!

Orktober GorkaMorka shenanigans

It seems I've been drawn into a GorkaMorka campaign at my FLGS; I'd forgotten how much silly fun that game is. It was pretty cool that about half the players at the table had their original rulebooks however, and spirits were high.

With 100 teef in the budget and only five spare boys available to borrow for my mob I went for a couple of trukks (which were thankfully plentiful) to spend up:

• Trukk (20)
• Trukk (20)
• Nob - six shoota + uge choppa (15)
• Spanner - slugga + choppa (9)
• Spanner - slugga + choppa (9)
• Boy - 2x slugga (9)
• Boy - 2x choppa (7)

With a few teef left over I splashed out on a spear gun for one of the trukks and called it done.

My borrowed mob, centre, ready to race...

We started with a race to help learn the vehicle rules, which I think was a good idea. Space on the starting grid was tight so it was perhaps inevitable that we weren't going to get very far... things soon degenerated into enjoyable chaos as trukks collided and span out, becoming obstacles.

Narrowly failing to slip through a gap

This is a game where vehicles can move and then boost forwards (risking rolling on a failure table for extra fun) so from the offset we were ramming each other with glee. Two turns in, the track was pretty much gridlocked - but that was a fine opportunity for a good ol' orky fight. Four turns in only one player had made it more than halfway round the track and some of us had to call it a night, but we'd all had fun.

Definitely a game that's better if you embrace your inner Ork, and despite not placing in the race my mob ended up with some xp and a bag of teef to spend. Looking forward to next time.

Happy Orktober, progress on my fledgeling Genestealer cult is on hold now as I've just bought a box of Boyz and a trukk!

Four arms good, two arms bad

With the release of a new edition of 40k I've been tempted away from my usual love of skirmish games* and see what all the fuss is about - so I've picked up the Genestealer Cult combat patrol.

First thoughts looking at the sprues were that with the number of extra arms and heads it seemed like a great opportunity to do some kitbashing (I've always preferred building minis to painting minis)!

GW Genestealer Cult + Anvil Industry bits

I'd wanted a rag-tag mix and match look but my second thought was how badly the GSC torsos and legs fit to these Anvil legs and torsos due to the angling of the joins - and in fact, the GW legs and torsos don't mix and match well with each other! Reading the assembly instructions it's clear that the torsos and legs are designed to be paired up exclusively which is disappointing.

Reading the instructions it also became clear that although "each mini" has two intended builds (very much like the monopose Warcry minis that are my only other recent GW experience) and that many have a shared component in both, often a left arm, which I guess is going to be a factor in any potential kitbashes using the spare arms.

All that said, I'm excited for the possibilities. Playing around some more:

Those same Anvil and GW bodies, now unmixed

Trying GSC heads on Stargrave and Frostgrave bodies

Of all these I really like the Frostgrave soldier body with the GSC head, ridiculous as it looks here, it's just a shame that they're so small in comparison to the GW bodies. If I could build up the torso/shoulder area it could work, as the head is actually about the right height, so I'm definitely filing that away for future consideration!  Not sure about the fit of the others with the aesthetic however, but food for thought all the same.

Any suggestions for potential kitbashes, and your good or bad experiences, welcome in the comments!

* OK I'll admit the main reason I went for GSC was because I could use them in Necromunda and Kill Team too!

Seedy Sci Fi / Cyberpunk bar generator

As I'm currently enjoying running Mothership as much as I used to enjoy running Stars Without Number, and this month's RPG Blog Carnival theme is "Taverns, Bars, and places to meet", I thought why not combine my old love of one-roll generators and my new love of spark tables into a bar generator for your favourite SF TTRPG?

Image credit: Pazuah on DeviantArt

So grab a fistful of polyhedrals and let's see where the party ends up:

This place is:

d10 tens	d10 units
a backstreet or spaceport hotel bar	filled with noisy arcade machines
a streetside kiosk in a shipping container	selling local moonshine
a laser-lit all-night club	rumoured to have a secret back room
a trendy wine bar in a respectable 'hood	tended by an AI/robot/alien
a high class cocktail lounge	with live music playing
a trucker / hauler / biker bar	hosting an open mic contest
a pop-up bar in someone's hab block	allegedly run by the mob
a snug in the back of an ethnic restaurant	with the best bartender in town
rooms in a church, mission, or similar	with plenty of under-the-counter goods
a motel bar in the middle of nowhere	with a priceless bottle under glass

Current patrons (reroll each day / as needed):

Sci-Fi Dungeon / Derelict Adventure Generator

I saw there is a One Page Derelict jam on itch.io and thought it would be fun to write up my first Stars Without Number adventure, set on a derelict refuelling station. If these tables give you any ideas for an adventure why not check out the jam?

Based on my seemingly popular 5 Room Dungeon tables from last year. Just roll a set of polyhedral dice and consult the tables for inspiration.

The d20 - Access is challenging because:

1. it is surrounded by space debris.
2. its automatic defences are still active.
3. it is invisible to active sensor sweeps.
4. pirates or other raiders swarm nearby.
5. it was lost due to a hyperspace mis-jump.
6. it is guarded by an alien construct.
7. all the airlocks are on emergency lockdown.
8. someone rich/powerful keeps it secret.
9. it is embedded in an asteroid.
10. it has drifted too far out of the system.
11. it requires antique access keys/protocols.
12. there are rumours that it's haunted.
13. the wreckage is under quarantine.
14. it is infested with vermin or aliens.
15. it drifted into solar storms or radiation.
16. the owning megacorp hushed it up.
17. military access codes are required.
18. a decoy hides its real location.
19. its location is known only to a select few.
20. a rogue AI guards against intruders.

Image (cc) RadoJavor

The d6 - A group of:

(WIP) Playbooks for Stars Without Number

Image (cc) BiPiCado

Midway through my recent SWN campaign I started reading some "Powered By The Apocalypse" games and I really liked the ideas of a) tying the story to the characters and b) character playbooks to help flesh them out.  It reminded me of what I liked about Beyond The Wall.

I started making some "playbooks" for Season 2 of the campaign when one of the players talked to me about not being sure where his PC came from or how it fit in.

They're not complete - by any stretch! - but you can download my Stars Without Number Character Playbooks in their current state from Google Drive and adapt them to your game.

Screenshot below:

Stars Without Number Ship Combat Control Sheet

Image (cc) desuran

I've talked about Stars Without Number a lot. I think I'll probably continue to do so; I love it. One thing I did find hard to keep track of was Ship Combat, fantastic system/minigame though it is, so I decided to make this control sheet. I also think I ran it slightly differently to the book - it felt right to me - so I'll explain how to use the sheet to run it the way I did. I'm sure you can adapt it.

I suggest you have:

• A copy of the Ship Combat Actions for each player (I printed handouts from the free SWN rules) for reference
• One SWN Ship Combat Control Sheet for the table - click to download from Google Drive
• A collection of minis, markers, or tokens to help keep track.  They can represent the players directly or indirectly, it's just for visual reference on the sheet.

Friday Freebie: Stars Without Number

Image (cc) Phil Parker on Flickr

How could I not recommend the magnificent Stars Without Number as a top tier FREE GAME?

Stars Without Number is the game that changed how I DM.  It helped me prep just enough and forgot about "building encounters" and start enjoying the game so much more. It's the game I wish I'd run first, but more on that later.

But how does it play?

Mechanically, it's an odd mix of d20 (for combat and saves) and 2d6 (for skills) but the players didn't seem to mind.  Skills are distinct enough without being too granular and it all seems to work.  Being an OSR game there are hit dice and hit points, and my favourite method for rolling HP when you level I have seen so far: roll all your hit dice and get that if it's higher than your current total, or get +1 HP if you rolled lower.  It really helps to smooth the curve.