Last Flight of the Red Sword Report

playthrough

#1

Just finished up the Last Flight of the Red Sword and wow! I got to catch my breath.

It was a very interesting session. I had planned for this to be done in two sessions because I had two new players and two who had played before. None of them had ever done sci-fi and so they spent a good chunk of time familiarizing themselves with the bio forms and classes. But despite that they ended up completely the adventure in one go.

The big problem of the night was that they completed the adventure without ever knowing WHAT their mission was. One of my players feedback was the combination of the Gargantua and the constant Solar flares made them feel like their very survival was on the line and that the ship was going to fall apart any minute. This pushed them to rush off the ship before they could investigate the Science Bay and learn all the specific details about the crew, their plan, and the Darkstar. They felt like they ultimately missed out on the WHY of the adventure even though they completed it as intended.

They did finish on a high note by narrowly making it off the ship by engaging the emergency air lock and getting sucked into space and being saved by their Warp Shell. (They attempted to latch on to the ship with a grappling hook but failed miserably. I had the Warp Shell transmit a disappointed emoji to each of their communication units before returning to pick them up).

All in all, I’m walking away with a sense of satisfaction at my first real foray into the Warp Shell universe.
I enjoyed using the terrain and Ultimate Dungeon Terrain that I’ve been building (I will have pictures soon of my completed suitcase).

On other notes, I ran Gargantua using the Action Oriented Monster method, as described on another post, and I felt that it offered me flavor and direction as the GM, but… one of my players decided to be a gunner with a burst fire unit and blew through Gargantua in two rounds. Before that happened though, Gargantua did come across as a threat and his actions did make for a more dynamic fight instead of just being a slug fest. I think it gave me a framework to chew on and a structure to follow as my players run around in all the ensuing chaos. I never know what my players are going to do, but I enjoyed knowing that my monsters had a plan.

I also really enjoyed using @Ezzerharden’s Game Master Worksheets with a few of my own custom pages added on. They really helped me work through the whole session and for once I didn’t feel like I was flying by the seat of my pants or having to refer back to my computer every other turn.

If you haven’t done Last Flight of the Red Sword, I highly recommend you do. It taught me a lot about ICRPG and it was a solidly fun adventure.


#2

So the players didn’t launch the red sword into the dark sun? And if they did how did they know what to do without knowing why?


#3

So they did launch the ship into the sun. They just didnt get all the juicy details about the Darkstar, the Reptoids plan, the captains back story etc… They pieced together what was set up to happen earlier on their own.


#4

This is ICRPG at its core. Who the hell knows what is going on…I might have survived. I might have not. It was an adventure of a lifetime.


#5

Fair enough, well now they know that the red sword destroyed the dark sun, maybe some adventure in the near future can explain what the dark sun is/was.

Glad you left the game excited, I did too even though I didn’t run it the best.


#6

Nice to see my target cards on your table!
Looks, like I will have to try Red Sword


#7

Even though I recently purchased a large red D20 for room difficulty at the table, I looked for and found the target cards after seeing this image of them in use. It’s great to have the easy/hard numbers right there and the artwork is cool to boot.

Now I’m figuring out what I need/want to craft to run this adventure at the table for the holidays with my new UDT 2.0. Just picked up some sci-fi scatter bits to get started.


#8

Thanks for the report. I’m going to use this info in my planning as I prepare to run this over the holidays.


#9

@ChrisWolfie, they have been a great addition to the table and are incredibly helpful for my players and me, as the DM. :herocoin:

@Olorindil, Ooh I’ll be excited to see what you come up with. The challenge I faced with running this and using the Ultimate Dungeon Terrain was that my players decided to split the party (At one point, all four of them were in separate areas). It was nice to keep all the different components close to one another so everyone could reach, but I found that it tightened up the battle areas quite a bit. If you think of a way to handle that with the UDT 2.0, let me know. I’m all ears :smiley:

Happy to discuss at any time. This was a really fun adventure!


#10

UDT 2.0 when players split the party…has been a thought of mine as well. I think @Shadymutha triggered something for me. Have one larger UDT 2.0 but have 2 smaller, not as elaborate ones for player splits.

Or just have close near far paper sheets on the sides for each Player Character.

This way you can have a 3 ring circus.

Or if just 1 player goes off, they are showing their positioning in relation to enemies but nothing more major. It actually should work. But I would need to try at a table and with my luck, that is when the party sticks together.


#11

@KaneDriscol and @Paxx So based on everything I read from many here, I decided to start creating modular space ship tiles in two sizes that can represent an individual index card/room/pod/segment of a spacecraft.

Two tiles can fit on the “Main Stage” UDT board at a time (either connected rooms or separate rooms if the party splits). I found some great paper craft star ship props and will be using the Dollar Tree mini Jenga blocks that @DMChef and others posted about to build out some more features.

The tile craft design is inspired by posts from @NicksCraftShack, @BigGrump

Here are some work in progress/prototype pics:

(Note: the Eldar figure was painted by my friend)

Here’s the layout/plan from my journal:

All the posts here have been so inspiring to me. I caught the crafting bug from everyone’s passion here. Thank you!!


#12

OHH! those look simply awesome! you just inspired me back!


#13

Dude!!! great work, I have no idea why I did not respond at the time, but this is some great stuff…what did you use for the screen/floor/grid of the ship?


#14

That stuff is called plastic canvas. I picked some up before lockdown, but haven’t made my sci-fi UDT with it yet. This reminds me to make time to craft!


#15

Thanks @Paxx! I’ve heard it called granny grating by people on YouTube. I found it in the sewing section of the Dollar Store.


#16

Oh!!! For the people who make pictures with different colored yarns!!! Got it.