Covenant Update for November 13, 2023

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Welcome to this week’s free post for Covenant!

We had a successful playtest on Sunday that more or less concluded the first chapter of our Underground Railroad campaign. To recap, the player characters (PC) were escaping from the planet of Sujimma, which was controlled by Rekana Industries in the Archimedean Confederation, when an orbital cutter and three fighters blocked their path. Cozen, one of the aco PCs, used one of his abilities to convince the cutter that they were running away from the fighting on the surface (which they caused, but don’t tell anyone), and the cutter captain told them to dock at an orbital elevator while he figured out what the hell was going on.

The PCs took about half of the session to figure out what they were going to do, but they finally came up with a plan. They would split up, with the acoes on the *Funny Business* transferring to the New Orleans, piloted by Sazzy the Ratel. The Funny Business, piloted by Tweak the aco and the ship’s owner, a risu named Jack who was sleeping on board when they took off, would then try to pull off some of the fighters while the New Orleans made a run for it. Pyro the thk’kok and Collision the aco would man the guns on the New Orleans, while Cozen, who was turning into the party’s face, put out an SOS.

We weren’t able to get a proper space fight last time, but we were able to test another game mechanic: chases. The New Orleans had to make opposed chase bids against the cutter and fighter. If the New Orleans won three of those bids first, they would get away. Otherwise, they’d have to turn and fight.

Collision and Pyro made good use of the game’s called shot rules, with one of their shots hitting a fighter square in its cockpit and instantly destroying it. Tweak and Jack also got off a good shot on the one fighter that chose to chase them, disabling its engines and taking it out of the fight. Sazzy made an insanely close maneuver to the orbital elevator to win one of the chase bids automatically – her pursuers weren’t as crazy as her and took the long way around – and used one of the grapplin arms on the *New Orleans* to throw a giant spear into the elevator’s Command Information Center, destroying it. She won two more bids and managed to get away.

Rekana Industries eventually captured Tweak and Jack, but Cozen managed to find help for them in the form of a pirate fleet in the area. They rescued Tweak and Jack before they could be taken to the surface. Unfortunately, this removed Tweak, Jack, and the Funny Business from the game.

Despite the losses, everyone seemed to have a good time, and everyone had something to do during the chase. We might have a concluding scene later this week or next Sunday, but for now, the game focus is probably going to shift to Sazzy’s campaign. Whatever we do, you’ll hear about it here first.