REGARD - ENDURANCE - COMPOSSURE - INTENSITY
This past Wednesday - the first day I really started to feel better after feeling awful from a flu over the weekend - I got the chance to run my first actual session of Space Opera Heroes for some of my buddies.
Nick was Sal Starwind, an Esper Hero of high Regard.
Ray was the team's Plucky Sidekick, a young man of loyalty and Endurance.
Carl was Hark Harwell, a Charismatic Hero who never lost his Composure.
Will was Celes Teal, a Lucky Heroine of joyful Intensity.
Our Heroes!
Plucky, Sal Starwind, Hark Harwell, Celes Teal, and a helpful Repair Robot
Together they teamed up to serve the Galactic Federation by rescuing Ambassador Oeg Tagothi (Hey! We know him!) who had been kidnapped by the evil Raellians to prevent him from negotiating an important treaty between the GF and the Space Amazons.
Oh Ambassador! You're always in the thick of things.
The Raellian Raiders had taken over an abandoned Galactic Federation Research Outpost on Gamma Serpentis II. Our heroes came in stealthily using Cloaking Device they'd obtained on a previous mission. It was illegal alien tech however, so they couldn't let the Ambassador know that's how they'd gotten to the surface of the planet.
The Abandoned Research Outpost on Gamma Serpentis II
After landing on the roof of the Outpost (which threatened to cause said roof to collapse at any moment), the Raellians came out of hatches to see what the noise up above was. Shocked to see the rescue team, they nonetheless got ready to do battle but Starwind's Ray Sword and Plucky's pinpoint accurate shot with his Laser Rifle made short work of them. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the roof, Celes tried to sneak in another way but was met by a Raellian in a Powersuit heading up through double doors. Celes managed to lock the hatch, forcing the Raellian to blast through the roof to get to her. While he was doing that, she slipped away and took a different route down into the facility.
The Raellian Raiders firing beams from their Psycho-Lenses!
Thanks to his Sixth Sense and Telepathy, Starwind was aware of the Powersuited Raellian and leaped to his position, cleaving the marauder in twain with his amazing Ray Sword skills. Hark Harwell used that opportunity to intimidate the remaining Raellians on the roof, convincing them they were outmatched and outnumbered by the forces of the Galactic Federation. The Raellians dropped their weapons and surrendered. The heroes, sans Celes who was already inside, instructed the aliens to take them to their leader.
Raellian in an old Iapetus Class Powersuit with Laser Cannon and Missile Pods attachments
Celes meanwhile had come across a Maintenance/Repair Robot who was active and unaware the Outpost had been abandoned. It simply continued on doing its job, fixing various components and systems as they broke down. Celes asked him where they kept live specimens because...er...she detected a malfunction in that area. Complaining about people not reporting in such things and failures to follow protocol, the Robot took her to where it just so happened the Ambassador was being held! How lucky!
Repair Robots are cranky but helpful.
At around the same time, Hark, Plucky, and Sal were heading into the corridor leading to the Command Center. They had the three Raellians they captured with them. As they approached, two Raellian Raiders tried to sneak up on them from behind. Bad news for them, as you're going to be hard pressed to sneak up on Sal Starwind and his Psychic Sixth Sense! Leaping into the air, spinning backwards, and igniting his Ray Sword as he swung downward, Starwind smiled with satisfaction as the first Raellian's hands, tightly gripping a Laser Pistol, fell to the floor, severed at the wrists. It took a second for him to realize what had happened and then the Raellian roared in surprise, panic, and pain. Sal tried to read the thoughts of the second Raellian who, in turn, took a shot at Sal using the Psycho-Lens on his foreheard. Sal deflected the beam with his blue laser blade as Plucky spun and blasted the attacker.
Space Opera Hero Trivia Kids! Raellians can use Psychic energy directed at them and convert it into a beam emitted by the lens-like crystal on their foreheads. This only works if you try to read their minds, use telekinesis on them, etc. They can't absorb psychic power from Sal's Sixth Sense as that is internal and not directed at them.
The doors at the end of the hall opened then, revealing the Outpost control room and the Raellian Leader. Hark got right to the point and noted how his team easily cut through the alien Raiders. The Leader was impressed and willing to negotiate...or so he said.
At the same time, the Repair Robot and lucky Celes managed to find a lab with several large chambers for holding live creature, one of which contained Ambassador Tagothi. After giving the parched diplomat some water (which he promptly splashed over his head), the three of them got ready to head back to the ship. Celes let the team know what had happened and they she had the Ambassador. This was announced loudly over Harwell's Communicator, which he had left on in order to use it as a translator for the Raellian language.
The Raellian Leader has a trick up his sleeve...er...on the back of his hand!
Chuckling in a most unpleasant way, the Raellian Leader pressed a glowing green button on his gauntlet, causing the double-doors behind him to open, revealing a warbot powersuit even more powerful and terrifying than the last...
Oh no! Are our Space Opera Heroes Doomed? Can Celes get to her teammates in time to help? Do the Raellians or their technology have a weakness? Find out - Same Space Opera Time, Same Space Opera Channel!
To Be Continued...(maybe).
We had a lot of fun and the game went over well, though it was played more for laughs. Were I to use Space Opera Heroes for an ongoing campaign, I wouldn't go quite this light-hearted. Still and all it was a blast and has me even excited to try other iterations of the game in the future.
AD
Barking Alien
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